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Rediff.com  » Sports » Qureshi, Henman in second round

Qureshi, Henman in second round

June 26, 2007 21:14 IST
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Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi became the first Pakistani player in more than three decades to reach the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Qureshi sneaked past Briton Lee Childs 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to follow in the footsteps of Haroon Rahim.

Rahim advanced to the last 64 in 1975 and 1976.

Ranked 279 in the world, Qureshi won three qualifying matches to enter the main draw and made sure he did not waste his opportunity to raise the profile of the sport in his homeland.

He will aim to become the first Pakistani player to reach the third round here when he faces former world number one Marat Safin.

Henman outlasts Moya

Tim Henman survived a battle of wills at Wimbledon on Tuesday, completing an epic 6-3, 1-6, 5-7, 6-2, 13-11 victory over Spain's Carlo Moya.

The dramatic first round dual was interrupted by bad light at 5-5 in the deciding set on Monday after 25th seed Moya had staved off four match points.

There was nothing to choose between the players again on the resumption on Tuesday as both players stayed rock solid on serve as the deciding set went past the 100-minute mark.

Four-times semi-finalist Henman conjured two aces, one on a second serve, to escape from break points at 11-11 and Moya saved two more match points in the following game as tension reached breaking point.

It was Moya who finally cracked, serving a double-fault to end the contest and put the enthralled crowd out of their misery. The Spaniard became the highest-seeded casualty in either singles draw.

The 32-year-old Henman will take on another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez in the second round after he beat British wildcard Joshua Goodall.

Frenchman Nicolas Mahut's successful grasscourt season got even better on Tuesday when he beat compatriot Arnaud Clement 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.

The 25-year-old was runner-up to Andy Roddick at the Queen's Club earlier this month but had to come through the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of the Grand Slam.

Ranked 77 in the world, he showed little sign of fatigue while he breezed through the first set against the world number 34.

Clement, also beaten by Mahut in the Queen's Club semi-finals, fought back to take the second set before Mahut sealed the third set tiebreak 7-5.

Mahut booked his place in the second round with his 16th ace of the match.

James Blake kept his promise to restore American pride at Wimbledon with a quickfire 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian Igor Andreev.

At the French Open last month, no American man made it past the opening round and Blake had promised to make amends at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

By joining third seed Andy Roddick in the second round, Blake is now one match away from equalling his best showing at the All England Club.

Andreev had dumped Roddick out of Roland Garros last month en route to reaching the quarter-finals of a major for the first time but he never looked like repeating the feat on Monday.

After keeping alive his chances for 94 minutes, Andreev's racket went spinning out of his hands as he dumped the ball into the net on match point.

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Source: REUTERS
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