LONDON: Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his California-based Indian double’s partner Prakash Amritraj completed a fine five-set victory over Ross Hutchins of Britain and Stephen Huss of Australia late Wednesday. The pair are now into the second round of men’s doubles category of Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club.

This match was suspended on Tuesday due to fading light with both pairs deadlocked on two sets apiece.

Resuming their first round contest in the evening, Aisam and Prakash, son of former Indian number one Vijay Amritraj, took 43 minutes to complete their success, winning the deciding set 6-3 and secured a place in the next round.

The final score-line was 6-4, 6-7 (14-12), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 with the match taking 227 minutes to complete.

The Indo-Pak duo displayed poise, purpose and cohesion to win the deciding set.

They slammed 16 aces against eight by Huss and Hutchins while winning 85 per cent of their first serves, sending down 52 winners against 28 by their opponents.

Playing on court 17 under sunny conditions, Aisam and Prakash, committed 11 double faults against six by their rivals but won three out of 11 break point against one out of six by the Anglo-Australian pair.

Australian Huss and Hutchins of Great Britain capitalised from the mistakes of their opponents to stay in the match after trailing 2-1. They won the fourth set in a decisive manner, breaking the opposition service twice.

The 29-year-old Lahore-based Pakistani and his 26-year-old partner qualified for the main championship after emerging victorious in the preliminary rounds.

They first ousted Thailand brothers Sauchai Ratiwatana and Souchat Ratiwatana in straight sets 7-6,7-6 and then got better of Chris Guccione of Australia and Frank Moser of Germany 7-5,5-7,6-1 to move into the main championship.

Prakash, appearing in his first Wimbledon, was noticeably nervous and was prone to some silly mistakes while Aisam too missed easy winners, either netting the ball or shooting waywardly.

The Pakistani who has so far appeared four times in this prestigious event in South West London since turning professional in 1998, saw his best doubles performance in 2002 when he advanced to the third round while in the singles his best achievement was to reach the second round in 2007. —APP