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Upcoming Pakistani tennis player Samir Iftikhar paired up with Jannis Kahlke of Germany to lift the doubles title at the ITF Junior World Ranking Tournament in Dubai. Iftikhar and Kahlke upstaged top seeds Bava Haden (India) and Lenz Julian (Germany) 6-2, 7-6 in the final on Saturday.
While the duo bagged the first set with ease, they had to face strong resistance from Haden and Julian in the second.
Iftikhar and Kahlke held two set points at 5-6 as Iftikhar served out two aces and eventually won the set on tie-break.
Earlier, the pair played a gruelling semi-final and staged a comeback against German third seeds Christ Constantin and Gohlke Delf from one set down and saved four match points in the second set at 4-5 to win 7-5 and 10-2 in the super tie-break.
The Dubai win makes him the second Pakistani player to have won four ITF junior ranking titles after his cousin Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
“I am very pleased to have won the title and I hope that the government and Ministry of Sports will look into my appeal for financial help,” Iftikhar said after the match.
