LAHORE – Pakistan tennis stars Aisamul Haq Qureshi’s hopes to play in London Olympics along with Aqeel Khan receives a blow when he loses one more place in the ATP doubles tennis rankings issued on Monday.
Aisam, who is currently partnering with Nederland’s Jean-Julien Rojer, needs to break into top 10 in the doubles rankings at cut-off date of June 12 to get an automatic qualification for the London Olympics. Aisam, who started the week at 14th spot, lost one more place. Aisam, who has played 28 tournaments so far, is now at 15th spot with 4160 points.
However, the victory in Estoril Open and making it to last eight in Madrid Masters, have helped Pak-Dutch pair to gain five places in team rankings. Aisam-Roger, who have played 11 tournaments together so far, are now on 12th place in ATP Doubles Ranking for Race to London with 880 points. In doubles team ranking, the pair of Belarusian Max Mirni and Canadian Daniel Nestor has replaced the pair of Indian Leander Paes and Czech Radek Stepanek from the summit. Mirni and Nestor are also at the top of the doubles ranking with accumulating 9420 points each.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer has climbed back to second place in the ATP world rankings following his win in the Madrid Masters tournament on Sunday. The former world number one moves back ahead of Rafael Nadal with Novak Djokovic comfortably holding on to the top spot.
If it stays that way through to the French Open which gets underway in late May in Paris, Nadal will likely need to go up against Djokovic should they both reach the semi-finals. Federer, on the other hand, would enjoy on paper at least a simpler task with Andy Murray sure of getting the fourth seeding. Nadal, however, could get back ahead of Federer at this week’s Rome Masters as the gap between the two is just 325 points.
In the WTA world rankings, Serena Williams is up to sixth place following her win in the Madrid Open. The former world number one crushed current top ranking Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 in a display of force that will send shivers through the women’s hierarchy ahead of the French Open which gets underway late May in Paris. Azarenka holds on to top spot with Maria Sharapova, who lost in straight sets to Williams in the Madrid quarter-finals, in second.