Aisam, Rojer edge closer to glory

PARIS: 
Pakistan ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer stormed into the final of the Paris Masters doubles event after defeating Marin Cilic and Marcelo Melo 0-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the semi-final yesterday.
The seventh seeds fought back after being demolished in the first set where they could not win a single game. The duo now faces India’s pairing of Mahesh Bhupatti and Rohan Bopanna, Aisam’s former doubles partner, in the final after the fifth seeds got rid of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-7 (5) 6-3 10-4.
Tsonga suffers upset
Meanwhile in the singles draw, there was disappointment for Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as he lost to Spanish fourth-seed David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5.

Tsonga went down after saving two match points as Ferrer, winner of his sixth title of the season last week in Valencia, advanced in 80 minutes.
“I lost, and, well, I won’t have much time, anyway, because I will be in London and Monday I will be on the court, I guess,” said Tsonga. “So if I had played a bit more here, it wouldn’t have changed things much.”
Ferrer, who did not face a single break point, raced through the first set and although the sixth-seeded Frenchman increased the pressure in the second, Tsonga was too sloppy to seriously trouble his opponent. Tsonga was 0-40 down in the 12th game. He saved two match points with decent first serves but then sent a routine forehand wide on the third.
The Frenchman heads to London having failed to beat any player from the world’s top eight all year.
“It’s complicated to play at Bercy just before the Tour Finals but I wanted to win the tournament once more,” he said. “As soon as tomorrow I’ll be on court in London to practice.”
Murray, Djokovic drawn together at ATP Tour Finals
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will continue their career-long rivalry at the ATP World  Tour Finals after being drawn in the same group for the season-ender in London’s Docklands next week.
The draw paired Murray in Group A with the man he beat in a Flushing Meadows epic to claim his first grand slam title at the US Open in September. As well as Djokovic, who will end the year as the world number one for the second year running, home favourite Murray will also be up against Tomas Berdych and last year’s beaten finalist Tsonga.
Group B, the easier looking of the two, will feature defending champion and 17-times grand slam winner Roger Federer, Spain’s David Ferrer, Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.
World number four Rafael Nadal is the only one of the top eight missing from the eight-day tournament that starts tomorrow. He has been out of action since June with a knee injury. London’s O2 Arena is hosting the tournament for the fourth consecutive year.