Tennis: Paes to partner Pak's Aisam Qureshi
Sep 24: Indian tennis ace Leander Paes will team up with Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan in the doubles in the Kingfisher Airlines Open, to be held at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai from September 25.
It is the first time that the duo, the most successful Davis Cup players of their respective countries, will play together.
Paes, 32, the reigning US Open doubles champion, had led India to a crucial 3-2 win in the Davis Cup relegation play-off in April.
`Five months ago, we were rivals at the same venue in Mumbai. So its nice to be on the same side of the court this time,' said Paes in an official statement.
`Martin is playing in the Davis Cup at the moment in Holland where he will be till Sunday night (European time). The playing conditions there are completely different -- indoor clay courts and cold weather -- from those in Mumbai -- outdoor hard court and hot, humid weather. In such different conditions, unfortunately he couldn't be here.
`But its great to partner Aisam who's an old friend. He's a serve and volley player much like myself, which makes it interesting to see how well we gel on the court. We look forward to a great run in Mumbai.'
Qureshi was supposed to partner Rohan Bopanna for the Mumbai event, but the switch happened on Saturday evening.
Qureshi lost both the singles and the doubles rubber (with Aqeel Khan) as Pakistan conceded a 3-0 lead to China in the ongoing Davis Cup relegation tie.
Bopanna will now play with fellow Indian Mustafa Ghouse. The pair will pay top seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Bjorn Phau of Germany in the first round.
Paes and Qureshi will take on Ramon Delgado and Konstantinos Economidis.
The star pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mario Ancic has been seeded third and will face the Indian wild-card pair of Akash Wagh and Chirtopher Marquis. The second doubles wild card has been awarded to youngsters Karan Rastogi and Sanam Singh.
Sanam Singh and Ghouse were the only Indians to advance to the third round of the qualifiers.
Sanam had a stroke of luck as his first round opponent Jeevan Neduncherhiyan retired with an injury while he received a walkover in the second round. The Chandigarh lad was leading 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 when Neduncherhiyan pulled out with a stomach muscle strain.
Ghouse overcame India's Vishnu Vardhan 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round qualifiers. He had earlier beaten Krishank Shahh 6-0, 6-1 in the first round.
Arjun Goutham from Bangalore went down fighting to big-serving Dutch Jasper Smit, stretching him to three sets before losing 4-6, 7-6, 1-6.