Bopanna qualifies for China Open main draw,pairs Bhupathi in doubles

Beijing, Sept 10 (UNI) Rohan Bopanna has qualified for the China Open ATP event main draw after beating Phillip King of United States in the qualifying final round here.

The Indian, seeded second in the qualifying round, beat the sixth seeded American opponent 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-1 to book a place in the main draw of the 500,000 dollar hard court event.

Bopanna, the highest ranked Indian in ATP single's chart at 252nd, will face seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the opening round of main draw.

Bopanna had beaten Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand and David Martin of United States in the earlier matches of the qualifying round.

In doubles, Bopanna will pair with ace compatriot and multiple Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi and the Indian duo have been seeded top in the tournament.

They are up against Chris Haggard of South Africa and Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei in the first round.

Bopanna had won four ATP Challenger doubles titles in July-August along with Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

UNI