Bopanna beats Qureshi to make semis in Manchester

Rohan Bopanna stormed into the semi-finals of the US $25,000 ATP Challenger in Manchester, shocking Pakistani second seed Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi in straight sets on Saturday.

Bopanna, ranked 51 places below his opponent and doubles partner at 233, won the quarter-final of the grass court tournament 6-4, 6-4.

It was a sweet revenge for the Indian, nicknamed Bofors because of his booming serve, who lost to Qureshi on both occasions they met before, in a US $10,000 ITF event in Chandigarh in 2005 and the Davis Cup relegation tie in Mumbai last year.

The 27-year-old Indian will play Harel Levy of Israel in the semi-finals later in the day.

Bopanna and Qureshi have formed a solid doubles combination since renewing their association after a long gap this week. The Indo-Pak combination advanced to the final after beating Australia's Andrew Coelho and Adam Feeney 6-4, 7-5 on Friday.

The duo will take on the Dutch-Swedish duo of Jesse Huta Galung and Michael Ryderstedt in the summit clash.