Aisam, Amritraj launch campaign in style

LAHORE - Partnered by India's Prakash Amritraj, son of India's famed player and now commentator Vijay
Amritraj, Aisam ul Haq Qureshi launched his Wimbledon doubles campaign in style.
It was giant slaying of sorts in the first round of the doubles event at Wimbledon, for the duo overpowered the
16th seeded pair of Australia's Stephen Huss and England's Ross Hutchins in five sets. In a game spread over
three and a half hours, played across two days, the score was: 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Aisam/Amritraj pairing
clinched the deciding fifth set on day two (Wednesday); things were at even keel with two set apiece when
insufficient light pushed the play into the second day.
In the second round, Aisam and Prakash will face the winner of the match between the Australian/German pair of
Rameez Junaid and Phillip Marx, and Spaniards Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro.
From the outset Tuesday evening, showing little sign of fatigue from the qualifying rounds, Aisam and Prakash
seemed determined to come good against the seeded pair. All four players boasted a strong serve, and it
reflected in the first set stats - a single break point opportunity, that was grasped by the Asians to take the first
set 6-4.
Looking to atone for the setback, Huss and Hutchins buckled down. No break points for either side, the set was
decided by a tie-breaker that went for 25 points where Aisam and his partner had his chances but the superior
pair prevailed by countering Aisam's impeccable serve with scorching returns.
Both sides had gauged the other, and were finding rhythm while returning serve. In the third set, Aisam and