KARACHI: Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.

After winning their first title together in Portugal last week, Qureshi and Rojer made a confident start to the Spanish tournament by winning the match in straight sets. They beat the Spanish pair of Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Ivan Navarro 6-3, 7-5 in less than 90 minutes to set up a round-of-16 tie against doubles maestros and top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan.

A win over the Bryans could pit Qureshi against his old partner, Rohan Bopanna, who has teamed up with his compatriot Mahesh Bhupati

Qureshi faces an uphill challenge to improve his individual doubles ranking (currently 14) to 10 in time to qualify for the London Olympics.

The Pak-Dutch pair won their first ATP doubles title together last week, when they lifted the Estoril Open trophy in Portugal.