Aisam ul Haq and Aqeel Khan steered Pakistan to humongous win over Slovenia in Davis Cup 2020 tie for World Group 1 Play-offs played on the Grass surface at Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad.
Pakistan vs Slovenia Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone Group-I tie 2020
Pakistan hosted the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone Group-I tie 2020 against Slovenia at the Islamabad’s Pakistan Sports Complex grass courts on March 9th.
Seasoned campaigners Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan showed their class and experience as Pakistan blanked Slovenia 3-0 in the World Group I playoff. After winning their respective singles matches, both Aisam and Aqeel showed impressive performance against their Slovenian opponents in the doubles.
Rubber 1: Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi managed to win the first rubber against Nik Rozborsek by 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(1).
Rubber 2: Aqeel Khan outplayed Blaz Kavcic by 6-0,7-6(6), 6-4.
Rubber 3: Pakistan team’s main strength Aqeel & Aisam started the third set with aggression as they easily trounced Slovenian pair of Blaz Kavcic & Tom Kocevar-Desman by 6-3 and 7-6(7) in 1 hour 26 minutes.
The winning Pakistan team will go on to in World Group I while the losing side will be relegated to World Group II. Pakistan now will face Ukraine which defeated Chinese Taipei 3-2 in their World Group I playoff on indoor hard courts in Zaporizhzhia last week.
The selected Slovenia squad didn’t included the name of their top player Bedene, who mainly plays Grand Slam and ATP events, as he is currently busy playing international event. But his brother Andraz Bedene was part of the squad.
Pakistan team’s main strength in the tie wasour two tennis heroes Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan.
Pakistan Davis Cup team is among top six teams out of 44 Asian countries in group I, which also includes China, India, Uzbekistan, Korea and Lebanon.
Pakistan vs Slovenia squads consists of:
| Pakistan Team | Slovenia Team |
|---|---|
| Mushaf Zia (Captain) | Miha Mlakar(Captain) |
| Muzammil Murtaza Date of birth: 12 Nov 1999 Singles ranking: Doubles ranking: 1586= | Blaz Kavcic Date of birth: 05 Mar 1987 Singles ranking: 282 Doubles ranking: 573 |
| Aisam Qureshi Date of birth: 17 Mar 1980 Singles ranking: Doubles ranking: 49 | Nik Razborsek Date of birth: 04 Oct 1993 Singles ranking: 613 Doubles ranking: 1345= |
| Aqeel Khan Date of birth: 30 Jan 1980 Singles ranking: Doubles ranking: | Tomas Lipovsek Puches Date of birth: 17 Apr 1993 Singles ranking: 632 Doubles ranking: 498 |
| Muhammad Abid Date of birth: 03 Jun 1994 Singles ranking: Doubles ranking: | Tom Kocevar-desman Date of birth: 10 Jul 1990 Singles ranking: 786 Doubles ranking: 1016 |
| Heera Ashiq Date of birth: 04 Jan 1993 Singles ranking: Doubles ranking: |
