BANGKOK, Feb 7: Thailand claimed an easy victory Saturday against unheralded Pakistan in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I first-round doubles clash, booking a second round place in the tournament.

The hosts played a perfunctory match in front of a sparse crowd at Muang Thong Thani stadium that was wrapped up in just under 90 minutes.

Twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana from Thailand, who are currently ranked 232 in ATP doubles ranking, made their Davis Cup debut in a straight set win over Pakistani brothers Aqeel and Jaleel Khan.

Aqeel started his service game with double foot faults, allowing the Thais to shoot to a 4-0 lead before Pakistan wrested their sole game in the set that was won by Thailand in just 18 minutes.

The Pakistani brothers fought back in the second set however to take the lead until the eighth game when the Thais won break point after a triple deuce to level the score 4-4.

Pakistan lost the set tie-breaker with too many faults by Pakistan number one Aqeel, sparking Pakistani coach Inam Ul Haq to complain to the referee about over-zealous linemen.

The third set saw the Pakistani duo hold their first service game but lose out the next, going on to win just one more game before Thailand swept to its victory due to numerous unforced errors by Pakistan in the 21-minute set.

Thailand will now play either Uzbekistan or Taiwan in April.

Thailand beat Uzbekistan 4-1 in last year's second round, allowing Thailand to head into the playoff for a World Group place. The kingdom was defeated by Czech republic 1-4.

Taiwan will host the second round if it defeats Uzbekistan.

Play continues Sunday with reverse singles, with Asian number one Paradorn Srichaphan due to play Aqeel and Thailand's number two Danai Udomchoke meeting Nomi Qamar, Pakistani number two.

Meanwhile, doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman and rookie Joachim Johansson put Sweden within touching distance of an upset victory over champions Australia, winning a five-set classic at Memorial Drive.

In a spiky contest, Bjorkman and Johansson downed the Australian combination of Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (4/7) 7-5 in broiling heat in four hours and 28 minutes.

Their crucial victory gave the Swedish outsiders a 2-1 edge going into Sunday's two reverse singles.

Mark Philippoussis is due to play Robin Soderling in Sunday's fourth rubber with Lleyton Hewitt down to take on Thomas Enqvist in the fifth match.

It was the first Davis Cup win for the new Swedish pair and ended a winning three-match run by Woodbridge and Arthurs in the team's competition.

The match blew up early in the fourth set when chair umpire Carlos Ramos twice had to ask individuals in the Australian support group, "The Fanatics", to stop making personal comments to the Swedes as they were about to serve at their end of the court.

Johansson, who went to the umpire to complain about the abuse he was receiving from parts of the crowd, was particularly rattled by the incident, dropping two serves as the Australians fought back and led 4-1 before Woodbridge's serve was broken and the marathon fourth set went to a tiebreaker.

Australia got to two set points on two Johansson-netted volleys and levelled the match at two sets-all when the 21-year-old Swede again netted a low half-volley to end the 74-minute set struggle.

Australia looked to have swung the momentum their way in the deciding set with an early break of Bjorkman's serve to lead 3-1, but Woodbridge was broken for the fourth time in the match at 4-3 giving the Swedes a sniff of victory.

They have yet to win in Australia in three previous ties heading back to 1986.

Australia have been in four of the last five finals and last December they downed Spain 3-1 in Melbourne for their 28th title, second only to the United States (31).

Thailand 3 Pakistan 0

Doubles: Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) bt Aqeel Khan/Jaleel Khan (PAK) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2

Friday's singles: Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) bt Nomi Qamar (PAK) 6-2, 6-1, 6-0; Danai Udomchoke (THA) bt Ageel Khan (PAK) 6-1, 6-1, 6-2

South Korea 3 Malaysia 0

Hyung-Taik Lee-Hee-Seok Chung (KOR) bt Yew-Ming Si Adam Jaya (MAS) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3

Uzbekistan 3 Taiwan 0

Murad Inoyatov/Vadim Kutsenko (UZB) bt Cheng Wei-jen/Hsieh Wang-cheng (TPE) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Japan 2 Indonesia 1

Thomas Shimada/Takahiro Terachi (JPN) bt Suwandi/Hendri Susilo Pramono 6-4, 7-6, 6-1

China 3 Philippines 0

Xu Ran-Yu Xinyuan (CHN) bt Johnny Arcilla-Adelo Abatia (PHI) 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Australia 1 Sweden 2

Jonas Bjorkman-Joachim Johansson (SWE) bt Todd Woodbridge-Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 2-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5

India 2 New Zealand 1

Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) bt Mark Nielsen/Matt Prentice (NZL) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).

Netherlands 2 Canada 1

Daniel Nestor/Frederic Niemeyer (CAN) bt Martin Verkerk/Paul Haarhuis (NED) 7-6 (12/10), 1-0, retired

Zimbabwe 2 Greece 1

Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) bt Elefterios Alexiou/Alexander Jakupovic (GRE) 6-4, 6-2, 6-1

Czech Republic 2 Spain 1

Jiri Novak/Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Rafael Nadal/Tommy Robredo (SPA) 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3

France 2 Croatia 1

Nicolas Escude/Michael Llodra (FRA) bt Mario Ancic/Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.-AFP