December 28, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 17, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 27: For Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq 2007 ends on an impressive note with him raising his singles and doubles ATP world ranking.

Aisam, whose ranking went as low as 484 in singles and 380 in doubles due to nagging injuries during the second half of 2006, improved his performance in 2007 to reach 125 in singles and 90 in the doubles.

The hallmark of the year was his outstanding performance at Wimbledon when he qualified for the singles main draw there to reach the second round. It was 32 years since any Pakistani player appeared on Wimbledon’s singles main draw and Aisam beat Canada’s No. 1 Frank Dancevic in the qualifying round.

Two of his other prominent achievements during 2007 include his win against the World No. 6 and French No. 1 Richard Gasquett. Aisam defeated Richard in The ATP Halle Championship in Germany. His win against Mardy Fish, America’s No. 3 and one of ATP’s top 30 players, whom he defeated in the ATP Championship of Newport, USA, is also worth a mention.

Earlier, in January 2007, based on his 2006 performance, Aisam was also declared the ‘Player of the Month’ by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), UK.

In all, Aisam won 15 singles and doubles titles on the ITF and ATP circuit during 2007. He also finished as the runners-up in five other competitions during the year.