Aisam, Aqeel advance in Davis Cup

Pakistan duo win doubles tie against Hong Kong on the second day.

LAHORE:

Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan gave Pakistan a 2-1 lead over Hong Kong by winning the doubles tie against Coenie Van Wyk and Jonathan Chu on the second day of the third round of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group II being held at the Victoria Park in Hong Kong.

The hosts, who although started the match smartly, fell in the opening set, giving the Pakistani duo a 7-6 lead. With that, the Pakistan number one and number two never gave the hosts a chance to recover and went on to clinch a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the next two sets.

Pakistan are now only one win away from their clash against South Korea who have already qualified for the next round, which will take place from July 8 this year.

According to the revised policy by the International Tennis Federation, if a tie is decided after the fourth round (that is if a team has a winning 3-1 lead after the first match today) and the fourth rubber lasts at least four sets, the fifth rubber will not be played unless both teams agree otherwise.

Pakistan endured mixed fortunes on the opening day of the tournament as Khan beat Martin Sayer after the tourists went 1-0 down courtesy Hiu-Thung Yu’s five-set win over Qureshi. Qureshi, world number 20 in doubles, will face Sayer today in the fourth round while Khan will go head-to-head with Yu in the fifth round.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.