Aisamul Haq second best in Barcelona Open final

Pakistan ace, along with partner Rojer, loses 7-6, 6-4 to Lopez duo in doubles final

KARACHI: Pakistan's Aisamul Haq Qureshi on Sunday faced a straight sets defeat while defending his Barcelona Open doubles title.

Aisam, with his partner Jean-Julien Rojer, lost to F Lopez and M Lopez 7-6 and 6-4.

This was Aisam’s first finals appearance in the ongoing year where he was planning to walk away with silverware and a successful defence of title.

"I'm very happy and excited to be playing finals here," Aisam had told The Express Tribune before the final. "It is the second year in a row and I am hoping to win it again. We’ll be ready physically and mentally for the final and defend the title."

Last year Aisam had won the Barcelona Open with Florin Mergea while this year he is reuniting with his former doubles partner Rojer who is on the ninth position at the ATP rankings.

The Pak-Dutch duo cruised into the final of the Barcelona Open as they outplayed Guido Pella and Nicolas Jarry 7-6, 3-6, 10-7 in the semi-final on Friday.

Meanwhile, Aisam and Rojer do not play with each other regularly, while the results show that the combination of the two works well as a team.

"I know him very well, we played one tournament last year and made it to the finals but lost on match point, hopefully lost from match point," Aisam had said of his partner. “I'm hoping we will go one better this time. He is a top player and so far we have been helping each other pretty well."

The world number 30 in the doubles ranking added that it is about helping each other as well being two players at the ATP circuit.

"Rojer's partner got injured so he asked me to play this week and I had to avail the opportunity," Aisam had explained. "I have the best shot to defend my title with him."

Earlier this year, Aisam reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and also played the quarters at Dubai Open.

Aisam was playing with Marcin Matkowski, Fabio Fognini, James Cerretani, Damir Dzumhur before reuniting with Rojer, with who he has won four titles as a pair before in the career.