April 12, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1429

KARACHI, April 11: Pakistan on Friday survived stiff challenge from Syria to take a step closer to restore country’s pride by topping their group with a clean slate in the Asia-Oceania zone group III Davis Cup at Enghelab Sports Complex court Tehran.

According to information available here, Pakistan who taught the UAE a lesson imposing a straight 3-0 victory on Wednesday, continued their winning spree by outplaying Vietnam 3-0 in similar fashion on Thursday.

Pakistan though emerged group ‘A’ champions rounding-off their matches by getting the better of Syria by an identical margin on Friday but their top seeds Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan faced a tough time.

Aqeel gave Pakistan a good start handing 6-2, 6-1 defeat to R. Radwan in the first singles. In the next, Syrian I. Tawil snatched a set from Aisam and extended him to tie-break in the third before going down. Aisam was home 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4).

Again in doubles, the Aisam/Aqeel pair conceded second set in notching up 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Marouf/Salim.

Meanwhile, Malaysia emerged group ‘B’ champions by overcoming Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Iran.

Pakistan and Malaysia are to be joined by number two team of both groups in a round robin playoff. At the end of the competition, top two teams will qualify for group II in 2009.

Results:

Pakistan bt Vietnam 3-0

Aqeel Khan bt Minh-Quan Do 6-2, 6-3;Aisamul Haq bt Quang-Huy Ngo 6-2, 6-4; Jibran Ahmed/Aisamul Haq bt Minh-Quan Do/Quoc-Khanh Le 6-2, 6-3.

Pakistan bt Syria 3-0

Aqeel Khan bt R. Radwan 6-2, 6-1; Aisamul Haq bt I. Tawil 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4);

Aqeel Khan/Aisamul Haq bt H. Marouf/M. Salim 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.