Taiwan and Pakistan were locked at 1-1 after the first day of their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II playoff at the Ulusal Tenis Egitim Merkezi Tennis Club in Izmir, Turkey, yesterday.
Taiwan’s bid for promotion back to Asia/Oceania Group I next year did not get off to a good start when Hung Jui-chen lost the opening singles rubber, but Jimmy Wang squared the match with a straight-sets victory in the second.
Hung won the opening set against Ageel Khan, but fell to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 defeat, before Jimmy Wang crushed Samir Iftikhar 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 to square the match.
Hostilities are set to resume to day with Taiwan’s Wang Chieh-fu and Yu Cheng-yu due to take on Mohammad Akbar and Aisam Qureshi in the doubles rubber, with tomorrow’s reverse singles set to decide the victors.
Both team’s recorded 3-1 wins to reach this stage of the competition, Pakistan over Indonesia and Taiwan against the Philippines.
The match is being played in Turkey due to the security situation in Pakistan.
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