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MELBOURNE: Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi started his Australian Open campaign with a win alongside new partner Jean-Julien Rojer of Dutch Antilles.
The pair beat Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia and Cedrik Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (13/11) in the first round in a match which lasted one hour and thirty minutes.
Qureshi’s previous partner Rohan Bopanna of India also won his opening doubles match with new partner Mahesh Bhupati.
Bopanna split from doubles partner Qureshi so he could pursue his Olympic dream.
Dubbed the “Indo-Pak express”, Bopanna and Qureshi, also playing in Melbourne, actively promoted India-Pakistan rapprochement and even offered to play tennis over the border. They announced their split in November.
Bopanna said he was happy with how the new pairing was working out after a win over Australia's Matthew Ebden and Chris Guccione.
“We had a good start for the season in Chennai, reaching the semi-finals.
That was a good three matches before coming here for our first grand slam,” Bopanna said.
“Obviously winning our first match today, it was a close one, a tight one but coming through these hard matches always helps us in longer matches and building our partnership stronger.”
When asked about the Olympics, he said the focus remained on the Australian Open and the other grand slams before London 2012.
“Right we're here in Australia. Our focus is to do well at this slam and then take it further, all the way towards the Olympics,” he said after the 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win.
The pair are looking to bring a smile to Indian sports fans with their cricket team trailing 3-0 in the ongoing Test series against Australia but Bopanna said he was confident the cricketers could salvage some pride.
“You win some, you lose some. It's always hard playing Australia here at home and they've been lethal in the bowling. Hopefully they can still stay strong and hopefully win that last Test.”
