2010 U.S. Open: Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi, the “dark horse” surges forward
A Pakistani legend in the making, 30-year-old Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi hails from the city of Lahore. Presently ranked no. 1 in Pakistan, Aisam has made appearances in most of the major tournaments but has yet to get his break. The Asian no. 3 turned professional back in the year 1998. Qureshi is amongst the top 50 as far as his doubles career is concerned.
In addition to all Aisam has achieved so far, the professional most recently made his country proud by becoming the first-ever Pakistani to be seeded at a grand slam tournament. The sportsman formed an alliance with India's Rohan Bopanna to be seeded sixteenth at the 2010 U.S. Open in the Men's doubles category. Qureshi and Bopanna zipped through the qualifying rounds to make a place for themselves in the final. The pair will come face to face with the American duo consisting of two brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan.
In their draw of the Men's doubles category, Qureshi and Bopanna got rid of Argentina's Horacio Zeballos and Eduardo Schwank two sets in a row, in the semi-finals of the 2010 U.S. Open. The Argentineans were defeated seven games to six in the first set followed by a six game to four in the second.
That however, certainly isn't all. Qureshi teamed up with Czech Republic's Kveta Peschke in the mixed doubles category, only to canter through to the 2010 U.S. Open Mixed doubles final that is to be played today. Kveta and Aisam will be opposed by USA's Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan.
Qureshi and Peschke annihilated the pair of Germany's Anna-Lena Gronefeld and Mark Knowles from the Bahamas. Upon being tied up in both, the first and second set of the semi-final, Aisam and Kveta knocked out Knowles and Gronfeld based upon their 7-6, 7-6, straight set win.
Seeded no. 1 at the tournament, Bryan and Huber defeated Canada's Daniel Nestor and fellow-country woman Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles category. Sands and Nestor were beaten six games to three in the first, and seven games to five in the second set of the match to make it through to the finals.
Regardless of whether Qureshi is crowned champion at the U.S. Open this year, the professional has undoubtedly outdone himself by proving able enough to accomplish what no other Pakistani could. Nevertheless, considering the fact that Aisam has limitless potential, one could strongly believe, that he'll come out victorious in both of his championship finals.
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