KARACHI Sixteenth seeds Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna of India entered the third round of the US Open on Friday in New York.

The duo scored a (6-4, 6-4) straight-sets win over Jarko Nieminen of Finland and Michael Kohlmann of Germany.

The first set saw Qureshi and Bopanna break Kohlmann's serve to take a 3-2 lead and consolidated it to 4-2. After serving out their own game to make it 3-4, Nieminen and Kohlmann were able to break serve in the next game, levelling the set at 4-4. Another break of serve followed, with the South Asian duo now with a chance to serve out the set at 5-4, which they did and won the set 6-4.
 
The second set was a tight contest up until 2-2 as both sides wasted a flurry of break points. At 2-2, however, Qureshi and Bopanna raised their game and won six points in a row to secure a break of serve for a 4-2 lead.

Nieminen and Kohlmann attempted a comeback and almost succeeded when they eked out three break points with Bopanna serving at 4-3.The Indo-Pak duo, however, held their serve to make it 5-3 and eventually bagged the set 6-4 in their next serve game.
 
Qureshi and Bopanna will face second seeded Nedad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor in the pre-quarterfinals.