Qureshi Soars Further in Tennis Rankings

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Pakistani tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi continues to climb up the Association of Tennis Professions (ATP) world tennis rankings. Qureshi dropped singles tennis years ago to concentrate on being a doubles specialist. And now he and his Dutch partner, Jean-Julien Rojer, have broken into the top three of the ATP doubles rankings. They are behind only the vaunted Bryan brothers of the United States at the top spot, and the Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in the second position.

Qureshi and Rojer are ranked number three with 1510 points. They scored a large amount of points by winning the Miami Open last month, their third overall doubles title together (they won tournaments in Halle, Germany and Estoril, Portugal in 2012). Most recently, however, Qureshi and Rojer lost last week in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Qureshi also moved up one spot in the top ten of the men’s doubles individual rankings, and is now ranked at number eight. He is also leading the charge as the Pakistani Davis Cup team appeals a tie that was awarded to New Zealand earlier this month based on a referee’s decision regarding an unplayable surface on a neutral site. Their Davis Cup tie with New Zealand was being played in Myanmar due to security concerns about playing in Pakistan. Pakistan was leading one match to none, when the Sri Lankan referre awarded the entire tie to New Zealand, citing Pakistan’s responsibility for the playing surface in their surrogate home court in Myanmar. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) Board of Directors will hear Pakistan’s appeal next month.

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