ISLAMABAD: Members of Pakistan’s Davis Cup squad celebrate their victory against South Korea at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Saturday.—Tanveer Shahzad/White Star
ISLAMABAD: Brilliant performances from Pakistan’s prolific tennis pair of Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan proved too hot for the visiting South Koreans who succumbed to a 4-0 defeat in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I tie here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Saturday.
Continuing from where they had left on Friday when they had gained a 2-0 lead in the tie, both Aisam and Aqeel displayed their prowess at the game when they won the doubles contest against the Korean duo of Soon Woo Kwon and Yongkyu Lim 7-6 (8), 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes.
In the fourth clash, which was a dead rubber, Abid Ali Akbar outclassed his Korean opponent (7-6(2), 7-6(5) to seal a 4-0 victory for Pakistan. The last match of the series was cancelled with the mutual understanding of both teams.
With this victory, Pakistan moved into the next round of Group I and will host Uzbekistan in April this year in Islamabad.
Earlier, in doubles both sides exhibited splendid game particularly in the first set. At one stage, the score was 5-4 but the Korean duo came back superbly to make it 5-5.
Players from both teams unleashed a powerful range of shots including forehand, backhand and some excellent drop and slice shots.
It was at this juncture that Pakistan got another point but Aqeel stumbled a bit to provide a chance to his opponent to make it 6-6. The set was then decided on tiebreak.
In the next set, however, the Pakistani pair appeared much more confident and played with better understanding and coordination. However, the Koreans were not ready to give up and once again the two sides were level at 4-4 when Aisam and Aqeel managed to break the serve of their opponents to gain a crucial 5-4 lead.
In the next game, Aisam held his serve for the set, for the game and for the tie, finishing 6-4 to win the match for Pakistan.
Emotional scenes were witnessed after the victory as the sizeable crowd celebrated the victory. As Pakistan took an unassailable lead of 3-0, non-playing captain Hameed-ul-Haq, Aisam and Aqeel took a break to meet the the spectators.
Later, speaking to media, Hameed said: “Korea is considered as a tennis power in Asia and beating them 4-0 is no mean achievement. We are very happy.”