Aisam ul Haq reaches ATP Chengdu Open doubles final

KARACHI: Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisam ul Haq has reached the final of ATP Chengdu Open in China, men’s doubles, with his partner Jonathan Erlich of Israel.

The pair of Aisam and Erlich downed third seeded pair comprising Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Nenand Zimonjic of Serbia in straight sets.

The duo won the first set dropping just three games, in the second set Aisam and Erlich dropped only four games to complete a 6-3 and 6-4 win in the semi-final.

They earlier defeated top seeded Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the first round, while in second round (the quarter final) the Pak-Israel pair defeated Leonardo Mayer and Albert Ramos-Vinolas

This is Aisam’s 32nd career doubles’ final, 5th of the year. He has won all four of the previous finals this year, all with different partners.

At Auckland, Aisam partnered with Marcin Matkowski to win the title. He then partnered with Florin Mergea to win Barcelona Open title. He won Antalya title in partnership with Robert Lindstedt. In July Aisam won Newport Tennis title in partnership with Rajeev Ram.

Aisam is hopeful for another career title to make 2017 most successful year of his ATP career. He already has won four titles in the year.

He won four titles in 2011 as well in partnership with India’s Rohan Bopanna.