LONDON: Prakash Amritraj and Aisamul Haq Qureshi are hoping a rankings boost will allow them to form a full-time partnership after they bowed out of Wimbledon on Monday.

In only their third tournament together, the Indo-Pak duo proved to be a handful for fourth seeds Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi before they went down 6-4 5-7 7-6 6-0 in the third round.

Thanks to their run to the last 16, Amritraj’s ranking is likely to jump up meaning he will be able to enter the same tournaments as Pakistan’s Qureshi.

‘I’m glad we had these two weeks as a team. I think we should take this partnership forward and we’re definitely a team to be reckoned with,’ the 25-year-old Indian Amritraj told Reuters.

Going into Wimbledon Qureshi was ranked 85 with Amritraj at 145, and on the back of the past fortnight the Pakistani said his partner would get close to the top 100.

‘I’m very proud of him,’ said Qureshi, who will use the positive energy of Wimbledon when he flies to the Philippines next month for a zonal Davis Cup tie.

‘I’ve gained a lot of confidence over these last two weeks,’ the 29-year-old added. —Reuters