PARIS: Pakistan’s veteran tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq, partnered by Oliver Marach of Austria, won their opening-round men’s doubles match at the French Open on Wednesday despite dropping the first set against Santiago Gonzalez and Marcelo Demoliner at Roland Garros.

Gonzalez, the 38-year-old from Mexico, and 32-year-old Demoliner of Brazil ran out easy winners in the opening set at 6-3 before Aisam and Demoliner bounced back to level the match 1-1 by emerging 7-5 winners of the second set.

Aisam, who turned 41 in March this year, and Marach, 40, encountered feeble resistance from their opponents in the third set which won 6-2 to progress through to the second round where they meet Great Britain’s Jamie Murray — older brother of former world No.1 and three-time Grand Slam singles champion Andy Murray — and Bruno Soares of Brazil on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2021