Davis Cup: Aisam, Aqeel lift Pakistan 2-1 against Chinese Taipei

Duo register four-set victory in doubles match on day two

KARACHI: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan handed Pakistan a 2-1 lead at their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group II final against Chinese Taipei after winning their doubles match at the Ulusal Tenis Egitim Merkezi Tennis Club in Izmir, Turkey on Saturday.

The duo defeated Cheng-Yu Yu and Chieh-Fu Wang 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on day two.

“It was a very important win for us, I’m glad that Aqeel and I won once again for Pakistan,” Aisam told The Express Tribune. “We should’ve finished the match in three sets, but we recovered well and Aqeel played brilliantly. I came to Turkey especially to ensure Pakistan’s win in the doubles as both of us have always given our best in this format.”

Aqeel had triumphed against Jui-Chen Hung in the opening singles rubber on day one, while Samir Iftikhar lost the second to Jimmy Wang.

Aisam is the team’s captain for the first time and he believes that so far, Pakistan have fought against the odds while playing their ‘home’ tie in Turkey.

“It’s an honour for me to lead the team, but I also want to be lucky for Pakistan and win this tie,” said Aisam. “The conditions in Turkey are more favourable to Chinese Taipei, but we’ll come through. If we were playing our home tie in Pakistan, this would be a different story altogether.”

The 35-year-old added that Pakistan have a number of options to go with on the last day of the tie for the reverse singles. “We usually don’t get to have many options on day three, but this time it’s different,” he said. “We can play Aqeel again, and maybe I can go for one of the matches too. But we also have talented players in Abid Ali Akbar and Samir, so we’ll choose wisely.”

Czechs lead 2-1 as India lose doubles

The Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek routed Indian pair Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna in straight sets on the second day of the Davis Cup World Group doubles play-offs on Saturday.

The visitors gave a sterling performance, beating the match favourites in three straight sets 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in front of the large home crowd at the RK Khanna Stadium in New Delhi.

India are down 2-1 against the visitors in the playoffs, with two reverse single rubbers scheduled for Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.

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