NEW YORK, Sept 1: Reigning US Open men’s doubles champions Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe advanced to the third round in their title defense here by ousting Israel’s Amir Hadad and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Aisam, a Muslim, and Hadad, a Jew, drew global attention for setting aside political and cultural background differences to form a successful tennis pairing, one that debuted by reaching the third round at Wimbledon.

“It has been unbelievable, changed my life in a way to get so popular,” Aisam said. “Not for being a tennis player, being a Muslim and a Jew. Not for the right reason. That’s the only thing I don’t like.”

The Africans, seeded fifth, captured the first set on their third break-point chance of the 12th game when Black swatted a winner past a helpless Hadad.

Hadad and Aisam opened the second set by breaking the Zimbabweans and the unique duo held serve the rest of the way, Hadad’s back-hand smash at set point ensuring a third set.

But the Africans broke on their first and final chances to advance in one hour and 56 minutes.

“It’s very disappointing,” Hadad said. “We played well. We had chances to win the match. We had some stupid mistakes in the third set that caused the loss. If we play together more and more, we’re going to get better and we can beat guys like this.”—AFP