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Pakistan and Taiwan share opening day honours
Pakistan and Taiwan shared the opening day honours by winning their respective singles of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I tie at the Defence Club grass courts on Friday.
Pakistan’s Aisamul Haq Qureshi defeated Chinese Taipei’s second seed player Wang Yue-Tzuoo 6-1, 6-1 and 6-3 in one hour and 35 minutes to establish 1-0 lead. The visitors’ levelled through top seed Lu Yen-Hsun who downed Pakistan number two Aqeel Khan 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) after a hard fought battle that lasted for three hours and 50 minutes. Senior political leader Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion and inaugurated the tie. Aisam exhibited dazzling power with sizzling serves and aces to down his much superior rival. Aisam was in great form and availed all the chances that came his way. Wang tried to avert the aggression of Aisam with some rallies but were cut down by Aisam with his superb volley shots. “I have grown in confidence after beating Thai ace Paradorn Srichapan in March and winning three gold medals in the recently concluded Islamic Games in Saudi Arabia. Since the Taiwanese players are not so good on grass it gave me upper hand,” said Aisam in his post match comments. “It was my first encounter with Wang on grass and I am delighted to win. My main reliance was on my powerful serves and quick finish and I knew Wang was lacking match fitness,” he added. Wang blamed stomachache and flue to his defeat. “I was not fully fit and was out of practice during the past one week. These factors contributed to my defeat. And above all Aisam was too good on grass.” However, Aisam’s teammate Aqeel could not cope with the fast paced game of Lu, who overcame a sluggish start to win in four sets. Aqeel’s poor back hand shots mostly landed in the net or went out of the court and he failed to counter the base line game of his opponent who was cool and steady with his strong fore hand shots. “I was not consistent in the match which cost me dearly,” said Aqeel. He added he was disappointed to lose the match after extending some of the sets to tie break. “I tried my best but ran out of luck,” maintained Aqeel. Lu said: “At the start I was not comfortable but after the second strike I fully adjusted and forced some errors on my opponent which helped me win the match.” Aisam and Aqeel will meet Lu and Wang in the crucial doubles match on Saturday (today) before reverse singles on Sunday. The winner of the tie will have a shot at making the elite World Group at a play-off in July. Neither Pakistan nor Taiwan have qualified for the World Group before.
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