Aisam-ul-Haq Continues to Fly Up the Rankings

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

Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi continues his meteoric rise up the Association of Tennis Professionals World Men’s Doubles rankings. Last week he and his partner, Rohan Bopanna of India, advanced to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C. And, along the way, they defeated the second seeded team of Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States. The score was 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, and amazingly, Qureshi and Bopanna did not face a single break point of their serve in the entire match. Only a week earlier, in Los Angeles, the Bryan brothers had defeated Qureshi and Bopanna handily 6-2, 6-4. The semifinals in Washington D.C. did end in defeat for Qureshi and his partner, as they fell to Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles 7-5, 7-5. Their serve let them down in the semifinals, with only two aces as opposed to 17 in the quarterfinal victory. Nonetheless, each successive tournament this summer has shown a progression for the Indo-Pak pair. And in the process, Qureshi has now moved up another 4 ranking spots, to move to number 35 in the ATP World Men’s Doubles rankings. His goal of entering the top 20 by the end of the year would appear to be very much in sight.

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