November 17, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 06, 1428

KARACHI, Nov 16: Pakistan won the 2nd Pakistan-India tennis series on Friday, beating India 2-1 at the PTF Tennis Complex, Islamabad.

In the first singles, Vivek Shokeen of India beat Aqeel Khan in a well contested three-set match. Aqeel Khan won the first set at 7-6 but Vivek bounced back to win the second set at 6-4 by breaking 10th game of Aqeel in the second set.

Vivek build up the winning lead to 3-0 in the final set, breaking Aqeel’s second game in style. But it proved short-lived as Aqeel took little time in levelling the scores 3-all.

However, Vivek had the last laugh as he won the final set 6-3. Both the players displayed high quality of game during the match and played some long rallies and number of winners, watched by a sizeable crowd.

The match lasted 2 hours 30 min and was refereed by ITF white badge Mr. Shahzad Akhtar Alvi.

In the second match, Pakistan’s top player Aisam-ul-Haq eliminated Ashutosh Singh 6-3,6-3. Aisam won the first set at 6-3 by breaking the 6th game of Ashutosh in a breathtaking display of serve-volley game.

He kept up the pressure in the second set and took the lead 2-0 by breaking the Ashutosh’s first game and soon won the 2nd set 6-3.

Aisam’s victory helped Pakistan win the second leg 2-1 and level the series one-all. The home side got cash award of US$1500 while runner up India got the purse of US$1000. PTF awarded an amount of US$500 for each win of the Pakistani players.

Results:

Vivek Shokeen (IND) beat Aqeel Khan (PAK) 6-7(4),6-4,6-3

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) beat Ashutosh Singh (IND) 6-3,6-3—Agencies