Aisam hopes to impress in World Tour Finals

Pakistan tennis ace loses first round-robin doubles match.

KARACHI: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer began their campaign at the ATP World Tour Finals in London yesterday, losing 6-3, 7-6 to eighth seeds Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg in their first round-robin match.

The duo qualified as the fifth seeds in the tournament that only features top eight teams in the doubles events and top eight players in the singles competition. Earlier, Aisam had made his debut at the event with India’s Rohan Bopanna in 2011.



“This is one tournament besides grand slams that I want to play every year,” Aisam told The Express Tribune. “It’s my second year with Rojer here and the third one for me, so it’s an honour and a privilege to play this event.  I’m very excited and it is a very proud feeling to be able to qualify for the World Tour Finals for the third year in a row.”

Aisam and Rojer managed to qualify for the London Masters despite their defeat in the Paris Masters.

“This is the tournament that we work hard for throughout the year so that you can play among the best players in the world. It’s gratifying.”

Meanwhile, Aisam said that his opening match at the O2 Arena in London was disappointing.

“We were the better team and it was disappointing to lose the first match,” said Aisam. “It was all good and we were leading 3-2 when I slipped and fell badly on the ground.

“I think that broke our momentum. Somehow, we lost eight to nine points in a row in the first set and even in the second set we lost after a close tie-break. But we are hopeful of taking wins in our next two round-robin matches.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2013.

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