Aisam beats Federer in Basel Open doubles

James Cerretani (R) and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi returns the ball to Switzerland's Roger Federer and Marco Chiudinelli during their doubles match at the Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament in Basel.—Reuters

KARACHI: Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner James Cerritani brushed aside tennis great and world number one, Roger Federer and his Swiss compatriot Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets at the Basel Open on Tuesday.
Qureshi was at his serve-and-volleying best in the round-of-32 match as he and Cerritani cruised to victory against Federer and Chidudinelli 6-4, 6-3 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the $2.6 million ATP tournament.
Playing in Federer’s hometown, Qureshi and his partner were in control of the match from the first game and although Federer and Chiudinelli produced moments of brilliance, the grit and powerful serve-and-volley game of Qureshi and Cerritani saw them through to the end.
The Pak-Americanpair will now play tournament first-seeds Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) in the quarter-finals.