The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Qureshi to meet Jae Sung An

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Saturday, Dec 01, 2007
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Qureshi to meet Jae Sung An

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: SaNdeep Saxena

WINNING COMBINATION: South Africans Rik de Voest and Wesley Moodie won in straight sets in the final.

NEW DELHI: Korean Davis Cupper Jae Sung An and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan set up a final clash in the ONGC ATP Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA complex here.

Martin Slanar seemed easy meat for the Korean, who frustrated the Austrian before winning 6-4, 7-6 (4). Sixth seeded Qureshi shut out Romania’s Adrian Cruciat 6-1, 6-4 in exact one hour.

“I just stuck to my game mixing up shots and served well to give no chance to my opponent,” Qureshi said.

Qureshi, who fired 16 aces and two double faults, had a dream opening when he hurtled four straight aces in the opening game after he was down 0-15. He opened up a mean 5-0 lead broking Crucial in the second and fourth game.

The Romanian managed to take a game on his serve before Qureshi served out the set 6-1.

The game went with the serves in the second set before Qureshi broke Cruciat in the seventh game. Serving for the match, Qureshi, at 30-15, smashed three aces in a row to wrap up the contest.

Jae Sung’s enthusiasm to go for every return made the contest interesting. After winning the first set 6-4, Sung allowed Slanar to gain some advantage in the second. In the tie-breaker, Sung served strongly and sent down cross court returns to pocket the tie-breaker 7-4.

Later in the afternoon in the final, Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna went down to the South African pair of Rik de Voest and Wesley Moodie 6-4, 7-6 (4).

The results: Semifinals: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Adrian Cruciat (Rou) 6-1, 6-4, Jae Sung An (Kor) bt Martin Slanar (Aut) 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Doubles: Final: Rik de Voest (Rsa) and Wesley Moodie (Rsa) bt Rohan Bopanna and Qureshi 6-4, 7-6 (4).

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