Aisam wins Kuwait Open Tennis C’ship

[BATMAN]

Aisam wins Kuwait Open Tennis C’ship

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\21\story_21-5-2007_pg2_10

LAHORE: Pakistan tennis prodigy Aisamul Haq Qureshi defeated Thomas Oger of France in the final to win the Kuwait Open Tennis Championship in Kuwait on Sunday. This has been a week of great wins for Aisam with a number of pulsating moments. Having started the week with annihilation of Russian player Filenkov in the first round with a 6-2, 6-0 score, the young Pakistani culminated it with the defeat of Oger in the final.

“I came to Kuwait and played here for the very first time and I am glad to write my name on the champions board here. Although the playing condition were very tough due to hot and humid weather yet I am glad with the outcome at end,” said jubilant Aisam after the match. This was Aisam’s 47th title in the international tennis. Now Aisam is just three wins away from reaching the golden jubilee mark.

Before reaching the prestigious final, Aisam humbled Iranian Mohazebnia in the second round, second seed Robert Smeets of Australia after a thrilling and pulsating three-hour long match in the quarter-final and then Kuwaiti star Mohammad Ghareeb in the semi-final with a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) score.

Third seed Oger was relatively fresh because he had rather smooth sailing to the final whereas Aisam had two tough and long matches on the previous days. And playing in Kuwait during the middle of the hot and humid day was no joke. Oger’s freshness paid from the very outset as he started very aggressively and succeeded to break Aisam early. At 5-3, when Oger was serving for the set Aisam raised his game to the next level and playing great tennis arranged a break back. From there on both of them held on to their serves to level it at 6-6. In the tie-break once again Oger established his lead and set up two set points for himself by taking 6-4 lead. It was here once again that Aisam played the next four points with the same quality and intensity as in the 9th game of the set and went on to win the first set with a tie-break score of 8-6.

During the second set, Oger was not only more aggressive but also more lucky when he succeeded to break Aisam’s serve by hitting two shank shots. He also served much more accurate and did not give any break point opportunity to Aisam. He secured his position by winning the second set with a 6-3 score. In the third and final set the drama was at its full bloom and so was the midday sun. In addition to focussing on his serve games, Aisam decided to take aggressive chances on Oger’s serve and got the dividend in the form of a serve break at 3-2 to take a 4-2 lead which he further solidified by serving well to make it 5-2.He got two match points in this game which were both served aces by Oger but Aisam was too good in his next service game and won the set and the match after a two hour and thirty minutes long contest.