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Monday, March 07, 2011

Qureshi seals victory for Pakistan with clutch win in reverse singles
By Andy Yanne @ 12:50 AM :: 1053 Views ::

Aisam Qureshi beat Martin Sayer, 7-6(8), 6-3, 7-6(4), in Sunday's opening reverse singles to give his side an unassailable 3-1 lead, as Pakistan beat Hong Kong in the first round of this year's Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia/Oceania Zone Group II.

After a long opening game, Qureshi broke Sayer to go up 1-0. Servers then held sway until the sixth game when the HK Davis Cupper strung together a couple forehand winners to break back for 3-3.

Great serving again by both players the rest of the way inevitably resulted in a tiebreak in which Sayer drew first blood to lead by a mini-break in the early going. The Pakistani ace, however, responded immediately by coming up with two mini-breaks of his own to carve out a slender lead.

The two players would go on to exchange a pair of mini-breaks before Qureshi managed to serve it out in the end, winning it 10-8. Qureshi then wasted no time and pounced again early in the ensuing set to break for a 2-0 advantage straight away. The break of serve turned out to be sufficient for the 13-year Davis Cup stalwart to eventually cement the set, 6-3.

Sayer responded beautifully to break Qureshi's opening serve in the third set to jump out to a 2-0 lead. However, the reply from the former world No. 125 was swift, as he returned the favour by breaking back to trail, 2-1. In the pivotal fourth game, Qureshi was let off the hook. He managed to hold for 2-2 after Sayer wasted multiple break point opportunities to reclaim that lost break.

Servers showcased their resilience by bringing proceedings once again to another inescapable tiebreak. This time, the Pakistani ace managed to conjure two early mini-breaks to force the issue and condemning the HK Davis Cupper to play catch-up.

Although Sayer managed to save a match point late in the breaker, Qureshi made no mistake on the next point and duly served it out for 7-4. Qureshi wins 7-6(8), 6-3, 7-6(4), and puts Pakistan through to the semifinal against Korea, who coasted to a 4-1 win at home against Syria.

Hong Kong will face Syria in July's Relegation Playoff to decide the right to remain in Asia/Oceania Zone Group II next year.Syria's number one, Marc Abdelnour (ATP 920) did, however, manage to put his team on the board when he beat Jeong Suk-Young (ATP 624) in Sunday's hotly contested reverse dead rubber singles, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

As reported earlier, Syria is led by 22-year-old Marc Abdelnour, who has beaten NCAA top-20 players such as Bruno Rosa (Rice) and Vahid Mirzadeh (Florida State) at the collegiate level. He is currently a senior at Division I outfit Florida Atlantic University where he plays both No. 1 singles and doubles.

Since the Regionals last October, he is 11-1 in all singles matches thus far this season.

Twenty-two year-old Issam Al Taweel (ATP 1070) is the other Syrian player who has a current ATP Singles Ranking.

Hong Kong and Syria have met just once in Davis Cup play. That occurred in Group III in 1999 when the trio of Melvin Tong, Wayne Wong, and Michael Wu combined for a 3-0 win, a day after the team opened the round robins with a 3-0 loss against Malaysia.

Lastly, Jonathan Chu then beat youngster Samir Iftikhar easily, 6-1, 6-4, in the dead rubber singles to complete the 3-2 score line. The ensuing tie against Syria, to be played over the weekend of July 8-10, will be the territory's fifth consecutive Asia/Oceania Zone Group II Relegation Playoff in as many years.