September 22, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 21: Describing his seven-week Indian tour as ‘satisfactory’, the country’s ace tennis player Aqeel Khan said his performance improved with every tournament and culminated on a highly impressive note when he played the ITF Futures final in Delhi.

“I adjusted to the playing conditions slowly and gradually and rounded-off the trip losing to a German opponent Peter 2-6, 6-7 in the title battle of the second ITF Futures at Delhi’s R.K. Khanna stadium,” he told Dawn on Sunday.

Aqeel also featured in the doubles at the same venue along with Indian Rupesh and the duo could not go beyond the first round.

Earlier, in the first Futures played on clay courts at Chennai, Aqeel went down in the second round of the singles while in the doubles pairing with Indian Jeewan the pair made exit in the semi-final.

Pakistan’s top tennis player had a dismal run in the two ITF Challengers played on hard courts in Delhi losing in the first qualifier in the opener and the first round in the next.

During the break, he had the opportunity to undergo a fortnight of strenuous training at Harvest Training Academy at Jasuwal, Ludhiana.

His sibling Yasir who joined him in mid August competed in the two Futures, losing in the first round at Chennai and second round at Delhi.

He said Yasir was practicing in Ludhiana and was due to arrive here on Tuesday.

Aqeel, 28, disclosed he had won two Futures at Hyderabad and Ludhiana and a Satellite at Delhi in the past.

A regular visitor to India, Aqeel said his current visit was materialised through private sponsorship.