National tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq lost in mixed doubles final

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National tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq lost in mixed doubles final

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10 September,2010 11:33 am

The 30-year-old Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi lost in the finals of the mixed doubles on Thursday but will get another shot at his first grand slam when he teams up with India's Rohan Bopanna in the men's doubles final against the top-seeded Bryan brothers today.Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi was thwarted in his first attempt to win a US Open doubles title when he and partner Kveta Peschke lost to Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan in Thursday's mixed doubles final. The US top seeds defeated Qureshi and his Czech partner 6-4, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the crown, Bryan's fourth US Open mixed doubles title in eight years, each of them coming with a different partner. Qureshi had hoped to win both the men's and mixed doubles titles in tribute to the 21 million flood victims in his homeland from a crisis that began six weeks ago.Qureshi and Bopanna have been trying to use their tennis partnership to promote more peaceful relations between India and Pakistan. The pair wears sweatshirts emblazoned with the slogan Stop War, Start Tennis and there has been talk of a match being played across the India-Pakistan border. I have always said there's no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can't get along with each other, said Qureshi. It has been hard times for Pakistan especially in the last two months so to be able to help send some positive news back each day has been fantastic, he added. Pakistan has been also been crying out for some positive sporting news following the investigation into cricket trio Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir for their alleged involvement in a spot-fixing scandal.