June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

LONDON, June 28: Marat Safin ended Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi's Wimbledon adventure on Thursday with an authoritative 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 victory in their second round encounter.

Safin will face top seed Roger Federer in the third round and he said he was relishing the challenge.

“If I want to have a chance at least to be close to beating him, I have of course to put up my best game, go for it,” he said. “I have nothing to lose because he's the favourite here.”

The last time Safin beat Federer was in the semi-finals of the 2005 Australian Open on his way to the title. Federer leads their head-to-head tally 7-2, however.

Aisam, the first Pakistani to play in the Wimbledon men's singles in 31 years, said he would learn from his experience in London and hoped to build on it.

“It's a big step in my career,” the world No 279 said. “I have a lot of self-belief that I can do well and be with the big boys in the top 100.”

Aisam said he had been hoping the often hot-headed Safin might explode under pressure and gift him some points but the Russian remained calm.

“I was hoping he was going to break a racket here or there but he didn't,” he said. “I think today he was pretty cool headed.”

The Pakistani was caught out by several lobs and passing shots from the former US and Australian Open champion who is seeded 26th here.

The Russian broke in the seventh game of the first set but wasted four set points before wrapping it up.

The former world number one broke immediately in the second set to establish a 3-1 lead, snatching another break in the seventh game.

Aisam, backed by a vocal Pakistani contingent, pushed Safin hard in the third but the Russian eventually clinched the tiebreak 7-4.—Reuters