Stockholm: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi won the Stockholm Open men's doubles title after comprehensively outplaying Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in the summit clash on Sunday, enhancing their chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
The top-seeded Indo-Pak pair lived up to its top billing, downing their fourth-seeded Brazilian opponents 6-1, 6-4 in just 57 minutes in the 600,00-Euros hard court event.
Bopanna and Qureshi swiftly took the first set, breaking Melo and Soares' serve twice.
They then broke in the seventh and ninth game of the second set to seal the victory in less than an hour.
Bopanna and Qureshi are placed seventh in the teams' ranking list. The top eight teams will compete in the finals in London. Three places remain for the prestigious season finale next month.
It was the second ATP doubles title of the season for Bopanna and Qureshi, and third together. Overall, it is Bopanna's fourth ATP doubles title as he had won a title in 2008 with American Eric Butorac at Los Angeles.
The pair split 29400 Euros as prize money and also captured 250 ranking points each.
"It feels great to have won our second title of the year and this is the best way to keep ourselves in contention for a berth in London," Bopanna said after the win.
"It has been a great week for us here. I always enjoy coming back to Stockholm. A few years ago I lost against Jonas Bjorkman in the first round and learnt something from that defeat," laughed the Pakistan star.
"It's also very special for me here, thanks to the Pakistani fans who came to the stadium to support us. Of course, I also want to thank Rohan. We have been playing together for two years now and it's going great," said Qureshi.
Before this win, Bopanna and Qureshi had triumphed on grass at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle earlier this year and at Johannesburg in 2010.
The Indo-Pak Express now moves to compete in the Valencia Open in Austria.
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