Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna of India battled into the third round at Wimbledon on Friday.
The duo had to overcome a strong challenge from Philipp Marx of Germany and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia to win 6-7,6-4,6-4,4-6 ,13-11 on Court 16 at the Championships.
In the third round Qureshi and Bopanna face East European pair of Lukas Lacho of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
The South Asian pair, who also reached the third round at the last year’s championships, is promoting peace with the slogan “stop war, start tennis.”
The Indo-Pak duo had strong support in the stands from family and friends, as well as Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, who is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.
Qureshi also figured in the mixed doubles category with Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia but failed to progress further with 6-7,3-6 loss to US pair of Bob Bryan and Lindsay Davenport in the first round. —APP/Dawn.com
Aisam and Rohan have progressed to the Wimbledon QFs. Keep it up boys
Aisam, Rohan in Wimbledon quarter-finals
LONDON: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi created tennis history when he became the first Pakistani to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon with his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna on Monday**.**
The South Asian pair eased to a straight-set win over Lucas Lacko of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the round of 16 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club.
Qureshi and Bopanna wrapped up the match 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 to enter the Men’s Doubles last-eight stage, however, their opponents are yet to be determined.
The Pakistani number one and world number 42 is a grass-court specialist and has been improving his performance at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament in the last few years.
**AFTER reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time in his career, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi is confident that he and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna can go all the way. **
Speaking to Dawn.com from London, Aisam said it was “an unbelievable feeling” to have made it to the last 16 at tennis’s most prestigious tournament. “It was one of the greatest days of my career.”
“I had my parents in the crowd, we had a lot of support and were playing some good tennis,” said the 30-year-old.
Having played with Prakash Amritraj in last year’s Wimbledon, Aisam opted to team-up with Rohan as the two had played together at a number of tournaments before the summer grand slam.
“Rohan and I make a great team. We are close friends off-court and understand each other really well on it.”
The Indo-Pak pair have improved their individual rankings in the last few weeks and aim to continue playing together for the rest of the year.
“I am really thankful to Rohan for helping me improve my ranking…we are getting better after each tournament so it only makes sense for us to stick together,” he said.
While Aisam and Rohan had to fight hard in their first and second round matches, they breezed past Lucas Lacko and Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round. The Slovak-Ukrainian pair had beaten number three seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy.
“We played really well yesterday and I believe most of it has to do with our self-belief. After we had overcome tough opponents in the first two rounds, Rohan and I started feeling more confident and played the better tennis on the day.”
Being a grass-court expert, Aisam has done considerably well at Wimbledon in the last few years. He entered the men’s singles second round in 2007, only to lose out to former world number one Marat Safin. In doubles, Aisam has reached the last 16 on two previous occasions, 2002 and 2009.
Speaking for his partner, Aisam said grass is also the preferred surface for Rohan as he grew up playing on grass courts in India.
The two South Asian tennis stars hail from countries that are arch-rivals but their on-court success has managed to bring together Indian and Pakistani fans.
“How many times do you see Indians and Pakistanis cheering for the same team? It’s wonderful to see them sitting together in the stands, cheering for us,” said the man who is also part of a campaign that aims to promote peace through tennis.
“We are not on a mission or anything, we just want to show that if an Indian and a Pakistani can be together on a tennis court, why not anywhere else?”
The messengers of peace have a big day ahead of them and said they are fully prepared for the challenge.
“After this interview, we are going to go to the courts to see our opponents in action. Other than that, all you need is a good night’s rest, take care of your body and stay sharp,” Aisam told Dawn.com.
“Before we began our Wimbledon campaign, reaching the quarter-finals was our first target. With that achieved, we are very confident that we can lift the trophy…it’s only a matter of three games.”
