KARACHI, June 28: Aisam-ul-Haq made history Friday when he became the first Pakistani to reach the third round of the Wimbledon Championships.

Together with his Israeli partner Amir Hadad, Aisam stunned 11th seeded Ellis Ferreira of South Africa and Rick Leach of United States 6-4 6-4 6-4.

For a place in the quarterfinals, Aisam and Amir will Sunday face seventh seeded Czech Republic duo of Martin Damnn and Cryil Suk who defeated Julian Knowle of Austria and Michael Kohlmann of Germany 6-4 6-4 6-7 (2/7) 6-3.

The only other Asian in the doubles competitions — Mahesh Bhupati of India — also reached the third round with his partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

The two defeated Tim Crichton (Australia) and Mark Merklein (Bahamas) 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 6-3.

If all goes well for the Aisans, Aisam and Bhupati are likely to lock horns in the semifinals next week.

But before that and in the quarterfinals, Aisam and Hadad are expected to face top seeded American pair of Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer who were due to play their second round match against Germans Karsten Braasch and Rainer Schuettler later in the day Friday.

AFP adds from London: Aisam-ul-Haq and Amir Hadad has caused a stir. But it wasn’t their surprise win over Ferreira and Leach that was attracting attention.

It is the fact that Aisam is a Pakistani Muslim and Hadad an Israeli Jew and in the current climate in the Middle East, it’s a partnership that is becoming a major talking point.

“I don’t care what people think about it,” said the 24-year-old Hadad.

“As long as we enjoy playing together, we will continue. When we agreed to get together, it was all about doing well here, making some money and improving our doubles ranking,” added the Israeli who is playing with Aisam for the first time and had to come through qualifying to make the main draw.

“If we win here, then I would dedicate the victory to my family and to peace. It would be good for those doubters to see that even though we are from different religions it is possible for us to work together and have some fun.

“Even if only 100 or 200 people paid any attention, that would be a good thing.

“A Jew and a Muslim playing together is not the end of the world. We are all human beings, we have the same blood, the same skin.”

Aisam said he ignored their two different backgrounds when he approached Hadad to partner him.

“We aren’t trying to change anything in the world.

“We are friends who enjoy playing together and we don’t think about me being a Muslim or Amir being a Jew,” said Aisam who asked Hadad to form a doubles team when both men had been knocked out of singles qualifying last week.

“I would hope that people will take something positive from this especially if we do well.

“I haven’t been home to Pakistan for two months, so I don’t know what the reaction has been there,” added 22-year-old Aisam who said he is surprised by the fuss being made over his partnership as he has played doubles with Israelis in the past - men like Eyal Erlich and Andy Ram.

But those matches were in Challenger events and not played out under the noses of the world’s media at the greatest tennis tournament in the world.

“I suppose more and more people will notice us after this although we would like to be talked about for our tennis rather than politics,” said Aisam.

However, the politics are not easy to ignore.

Although they intend to keep playing together, there is a bitter irony in that both men are banned by their respective governments from playing in each other’s countries.

“If we can change peoples’ minds then that would be a good thing, but our main aim is to improve our ranking,” added Aisam who has the family background to take the huge interest in him, and his Israeli friend, in his stride.

His father Ehtsham was the All-India tennis champion before partition while his mother Nosheem, at a sprightly 41-years-old played Fed Cup for Pakistan.

Last year, she and her son made history by becoming the first mother and son to play Davis Cup and Fed Cup tennis for the same country.

And Aisam believes that maybe it’s divine inspiration that is sparking such success for him and Hadad.

In the final round of qualifying, they saved four match points and won 15-13 in the final set - a victory greeted with a big kiss for her trailblazing son Aisam by his proud mum!.—AFP