Austria’s men’s national tennis team will be on 16./17. September in the play-off against relegation to World Group I of the Davis Cup at home against Pakistan. That was the result of the draw made in London on Thursday. Captain Jürgen Melzer’s squad was the first seeded team, in the qualifying round for the final tournament in 2022 there was a 3-1 defeat in South Korea when the Lower Austrian made his coaching debut at the beginning of March.
The Austrians have never played against the Pakistanis, so the choice of place was made by drawing lots. The first duel now offers a very good chance of staying up. The only player currently listed in the singles world rankings from Pakistan is Ahmed Choudhary at position 1,565. However, he played his last ITF tournament in May 2019 in Uganda. It looks a bit different in doubles, here Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi is 47th better than all Austrians. Most recently, the 42-year-old was in the doubles final at the ATP250 tournament in Delray Beach. Qureshi holds 18 doubles titles on the tour.
At the time of Austria’s defeat by South Korea, Pakistan qualified for the play-off after beating Lithuania 3-2 at home. Apart from Qureshi, the only players on the team were players without a world ranking: 42-year-old Aqeel Khan, 20-year-old Muhanmad Shoaib and 27-year-old Muhammad Abid. Qureshi played in doubles with Khan and also played in the decisive singles at 2:2 – ultimately successful. Other individual players were Khan and Shoaib on the first day.
