Tennis: Nielsen's dramatic win keeps cup hopes alive

Mark Nielsen has scored a dramatic and drawn-out win to keep New Zealand in with a chance of winning the Asia/Oceania Group 1 third round playoff tie with Pakistan in Islamabad.

Nielsen, ranked at 520 in the world, beat Pakistan number one Aisam Qureshi in five dramatic sets 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a match which lasted over five hours. Qureshi is currently ranked 204 on the ATP rankings.

The win tied the tie at 2-2 going into the second reverse singles match.

The pressure now goes on Kiwi number two Simon Rea against his Pakistan opponent Aqeel Khan.

Rea has a ranking of 847 and Khan is 368.

Nielsen won the first set 6-4 of his match with Qureshi and then found himself in a huge battle for the second set.

The Kiwi number one trailed 2-3 before Qureshi double faulted to make the score 3-3.

Nielsen then worked his way to a 6-5 lead and set point but a close call on a ball which Nielsen and team-mates believed was out was overruled by the Egyptian umpire Mohamed Osman.

The New Zealanders argued with the umpire and then pleaded their cause with referee Khaled el Sergany of Egypt but he refused to be persuaded stating that he could rule only on points of law, not on actual game calls.

Eventually play resumed as Qureshi took the set to the tiebreak and promptly won it 7-1.

However Nielsen returned with a powerful display to win the third set 6-2.

The fourth set was tight with Qureshi winning 7-5 before Nielsen kept his cool in the final set for a 6-4 win.

The overall winner of the tie remains in Group 1 with the losers being relegated to Group 2.

Earlier Nielsen and Rea lost in straight sets to Aisamul-ul Haq Quereshi and Aqeel Khan 4-6, 4-6, 1-6.

That put New Zealand 1-2 down in the tie after the opening single matches were shared one-all.

Nielsen had given New Zealand an ideal start by easily beating Khan 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 but Rea could not match that performance, going down to an opponent ranked 204th in the world, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 3-6.

The New Zealand pair failed to adapt to the heat and unusually bouncy clay surface against opponents playing at home. This is New Zealand's first tennis tie in Pakistan and just the second time the two countries have squared off in the Davis Cup.

New Zealand won the first rubber 5-0 in Hamilton last year, but are finding the going much more difficult this week. * Australia completed a comfortable 4-1 win over Morocco in their playoff, after splitting the reverse singles.

Mounir El Aarej gave the Moroccans their only win of the tie, beating Todd Reid 6-2, 6-3, before doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge crushed Mehdi Ziadi 6-0, 6-2 in the final match.