ISLAMABAD - Abid Ali Akbar's brilliance gave Pakistan 3-1 victory against hosts Indonesia in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group-II semifinal played on Thursday at Jakarta.
Abid was preferred over experienced Davis Cupper Aqeel Khan, who was supposed to start the highly important first reverse singles against David Aguns Susanto, but captain Hameedul Haq took huge gamble and instead of playing with seasoned campaigner Aqeel, he opted in favour of rookie Abid.
Talking to The Nation from Indonesia, Aqeel said: “I was fully fit and ready to play the match, but captain Hameed came to me and informed me that Abid will start proceedings, as he wanted to give chance to the youngsters saying this is the time to give confidence to young lad. If he didn’t play this match, he could never get a similar chance in near future. I had no issue with that as I know Abid is a young and energetic boy and although it was very important match and had great impact on our chances in the tie, yet Abid lived up to the occasion quite well.”
About Abid’s reverse singles match, Aqeel said: “Abid was simply irresistible in the first set as he was playing quality tennis and Susanto had no answers to his pace, powerful volleys and down the line passing shots. Abid played a number of winners completely outclassing his opponent and took the set 6-0,” he added.
“Both Abid and Susanto played superbly in the second set which kept on swinging one way to another, as both the players were not in a mood to hand over the advantage to other and managed to hold on to their respective serves in the entire set which was then decided on tie break. After playing so well in the entire set, all of a sudden Susanto ran out of gas and made a number of unforced errors, which allowed Abid to build healthy lead in the tie break and took the second set 7-6(2),” Aqeel said.
“It was looking quite easy for Abid to wrap up the match and tie for Pakistan, but Susanto had other ideas as he entered the court looking more focused, determined and with big crowd’s support. Susanto then showed his class and played superb tennis and took the third set 6-0.
“Abid started the fourth set in great style and never allowed Susanto to dictate his terms due to which the Indonesian lost the magical touch and had no answers to Abid’s powerful shots. Abid wrapped up the set 6-2 and recorded highly remarkable victory for Pakistan and also proved captain Hameed's decision right,” Aqeel added. With the rise of Abid Ali Akbar and Samir Iftikhar, immediate future of Pakistan tennis now looks in safe hands. Aisam and Aqeel had served the country quite well, they always maintained Pakistan's supremacy and won a number of matches for the country, but now age is catching fast to both ace players who need backup and it looks like Abid and Samir have provided them a dependable backup. With this win, Pakistan clinched the tie 3-1, after which the ITF match referee declared the last singles as redundant and, thus, not required to be played.
Aqeel said if Abid somehow had lost the match then Samir would have played the fifth do-or-die match against Indonesian No 2 AH Sasongko, whom he had beaten on the inaugural day, as Samir was in perfect shape. “It was a great day for Pakistan tennis as Pakistan has managed to win the tie against Indonesia and that too at their own backyard and keeping in mind Aisam was also not available for the tie. I hope this victory will go a long way in helping Pakistan tennis and fresh talent would surface sooner rather than later,” Aqeel concluded.
Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president Salim Saifullah Khan extended heartiest felicitations on behalf of entire tennis fraternity to the team members on their brilliant performance. He also lauded role of captain Hameed-ul-Haq and applauded superb tennis performances by Aqeel Khan, Samir Iftikhar and Abid Ali Akbar. PTF patron Senator Dilawar Abbas and Arif Qureshi also greeted Pakistan team for carving out memorable victory against Indonesia.