China’s Zhang Ze beat Aqil Khan convincingly 6-4, 6-2 and 6-2 in the opening match of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie in Sri Lankan capital Colombo, to gain an early lead.
The match was played in Sri Lanka instead of Pakistan due to security concerns.
Khan fought hard, winning the third and fourth games in the first set, but Zhang went on to win the last two sets of the match that lasted for an hour and 52 minutes.
In the second match, Aqil’s younger brother Yasir put in an even braver effort against China’s Wu Di, but could not snatch victory for Pakistan despite winning the first set 6-3.
Wu came back strongly in the second set and levelled the score with a 6-1 win before taking the third at 6-4.
