ISLAMABAD: The Iranian Davis Cup team after losing three matches in the previous two days and losing the tie to Pakistan made a consolation comeback on Sunday with the Iran’s duo of Hamid Raza Nadaf and Shahin Khaledan winning the reverse singles.

In their separate matches, the Iranians defeated Pakistan’s Abid Ali Akbar and Mohamamd Abid here at the hard court of Pakistan Sports Complex.

In the first match played as the best of three, Nadaf defeated Abid Ali 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 after a three set game with both players playing well in the first set which was ultimately won by Abid Ali 7-6.

However, in the next set, Nadaf made a resounding comeback at a time when Abid looked under pressure and failed to make any serious move as a result of which the visitor won comfortably 6-4 with Abid Ali Akbar making several double faults and unforced errors.

In the decider, it was a cakewalk for the Iranian who won the set 6-3 in 44 minutes with the match lasting two hours and 34 minutes.

On the other hand, the last reverse single saw Iran’s Shahin Khaledan take only one hour and 40 minutes to eliminate Mohammad Abid in straight game 7-6, 6-3 score.

Mohamamd Abid made a number of mistakes during the match which provided a fair chance to his opponent to win the match.

After Sunday’s matches, the three-day Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group 2 is won by Pakistan 3-2 as earlier Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan won their singles and doubles matches comfortably. Pakistan has now qualified for the semi-final to have a face-off with either Hong Kong or Vietnam.

Pakistan Tennis Federation president Salim Saifullah congratulated Pakistan team and the entire country on revival and successful conduct of international tennis in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn February 6th, 2017