KARACHI: Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer eased into the second round of the men's doubles competition in Melbourne at the Australian Open on Wednesday with a straight-set win.
The sixth seeds overpowered the German-Belgian duo of Simon Stadler and David Goffin 6-3, 6-1 in less than an hour.
The Pak-Dutch pair will meet either Nicholas Monroe of USA and Grega Zemlja of Slovenia or Belgian duo of Xavier Malisse and Dick Norman.
Before departing for Melbourne, Qureshi had asserted that he intended to bring Grand Slam glory to Pakistan and hoped he could go beyond the quarter-finals at this year's Australian Open, a feat which he has not been able to achieve before.
"I hope I can make this happen this year. I want to make my presence felt,” he told a local newspaper.
“I will try my best to reach at least the quarters of the Australian Open this year, though my aim is to win the title,” he added.