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Thursday, December 26, 2024  
23 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

PTT Thailand Open: Qureshi outplay Murray, moves into the semi-final

Top seeded pair of Oliver Marach of Austria and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan reigned supreme in the quarter-final clash of the PTT Thailand Open, defeating the unseeded duo of Jamie Murray of the Great Britain and Andre Sa of Brazil, on Thursday afternoon.

Marach and Qureshi took one hour and thirty one minutes of play to wrap up the three-setter 6-4, 2-6, 10-7, making their way to the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.

The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of the Impact Arena, in Bangkok, Thailand, with the top seeded duo winning after a stiff contest against Murray and Sa. Marach and Qureshi were off to a brilliant start in the first set but lost their way through the next set to let their opponents back in business.

A competitive final set was played between the two pairs but Marach and Qureshi took the better of their opponents to conclude the matchup in their favour.

The top seeded duo delivered 77 per cent of its serve on target and clinched 29 out of 47 first serve points en route to victory. Marach and Qureshi registered two of their four break points, with their opponent striking three out of seven serve breaks in the matchup.

Murray and Sa came to Bangkok after winning a doubles title in the Moselle Open last Sunday but failed to replicate the similar problem in the Thursday’s matchup. They played aggressive tennis to force their way back in the second set but lost their steam in the super tie breaker round. Marach and Qureshi reeled off six straight points to race away to 8-2 lead and then closed out the contest by bagging the third set at 10-7.

Marach and Qureshi will take on the third seeded Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in the next encounter to fight for a place in the final of the PTT Thailand open. Bolelli and Fognini were victorious against the unseeded duo of Santiago Giraldo of Colombia and Tobias Kamke of Germany in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(6), in the quarter-finals.