The Hindu : Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi lifts title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 29, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi lifts title

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan exults after winning the title. — Photo: S. Subramanium

NEW DELHI, FEB. 28. Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi rode on his big serves to win his first title of the season, as the second-seeded Pakistani beat the top-seeded Todor Enev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Syndicate Bank $10,000 ITF men's Futures tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

Watched by appreciative spectators, who heartily clapped for every one of his dozen aces, the 345th ranked Qureshi had little trouble in winning his third singles title on Indian soil in a span of three months, following the triumph in Dehra Dun and another one at the same venue in the Capital.

It was the ninth Futures singles title in 13 finals for the 23-year-old Qureshi, and he did not have to sweat for it much this day, despite it being a particularly warm afternoon.

Except for getting broken in the sixth game of the second set, when the 300th ranked Enev smacked a backhand passing shot down the line on breakpoint, Qureshi was hardly in trouble or under any pressure in his service games.

In fact, the strapping Pakistani could have wound up the show a lot earlier, but for Enev getting lucky with two favourable line calls when he faced breakpoints in the third game of the second set.

Once Qureshi converted the fifth breakpoint in the seventh game of the second set, the contest was as good as over, as Enev was making far too many mistakes with his groundstrokes, which was actually supposed to be his strong point.

The erratic Bulgarian, who was just about patting his first serves, did not win another game after breaking Aisam in that sixth game. The Pakistani signed off in style, firing an ace down the middle. There was a slight drama a minute earlier, when Aisam celebrated his title triumph rather prematurely, without realising that the umpire Praveen Kumar had called his serve `net'.

In any case, the way he was playing, it was difficult for anyone to deny Aisam the trophy for long.

"I am happy with the way things turned out. I came to this tournament hoping to win a few matches, and have ended up winning five and the title itself. I came in only on Monday evening instead of Friday, after a bout of food poisoning, and I didn't have anyone back home to practise. My serve carried me through this tournament. He double faulted on breakpoint to make it easy for me in that ninth game'', said Qureshi, quite pleased with his success that fetched him 18 ATP points and $1300.

In fact, the Bulgarian had literally handed over the only break in the first set, when he hit an overhead into the net, while he was right on top of the net. It was the eighth final at this level for Enev, who had won four titles, including one in Lucknow last year. He collected 12 ATP points and $900.

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