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. 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.
In another 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 in the first-round. 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.
WIMBLEDON MEN'S SINGLES RESULTS:
Wimbledon men's singles first round results on Tuesday (prefix number denotes seeding, * new result)
-- 11-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Robert Kendrick (US) 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3
-- 19-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Fernando Vicente (Spain) 6-3 6-1 6-2
-- Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) beat Jamie Baker (Britain) 7-6(2) 6-2 6-3
-- Max Mirnyi (Belarus) beat Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) 6-3 6-4 2-1 retired
-- 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) 6-7(5) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5
-- Tim Henman (Britain) beat 25-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-2 13-11
-- Nicolas Mahut (France) beat Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4
-- Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Joshua Goodall (Britain) 6-1 6-4 6-4
-- Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) beat Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-2 6-7(6) 4-3 retired
-- Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) beat Kevin Kim (US) 2-6 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-4
-- 9-James Blake (US) beat Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-3 6-4 6-4
-- 15-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Vincent Spadea (US) 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6(4)
-- Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) beat Lee Childs (Britain) 6-3 6-4 7-6(6)
-- 26-Marat Safin (Russia) Rik de Voest (South Africa) 7-6(5) 6-4 7-5
-- Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) beat Marc Gicquel (France) 0-6 6-4 6-4 6-4
-- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6(4) 7-5 6-4
-- Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Bobby Reynolds (US) 6-4 6-3 6-3
-- 12-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4 6-4
-- Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4
-- Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 31-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-6(8) 6-1 6-2
-- Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat Juan Pablo Guzman (Argentina) 6-4 6-4 6-1
WIMBLEDON WOMEN'S SINGLES RESULTS:
-- Wimbledon women's singles first round results on Tuesday (prefix number denotes seeding, * new result)
-- 8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany) 7-5 6-3
-- 3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Anne Keothavong (Britain) 6-2 6-0
-- Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat 30-Olga Poutchkova (Russia) 6-1 6-3
-- Olga Govortsova (Belarus) beat Greta Arn (Germany) 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-1
-- Emilie Loit (France) beat Sun Tiantian (China) 6-3 6-1
-- Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) beat Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 5-7 6-3 8-6
-- 31-Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Tzipora Obziler (Israel) 6-2 6-7(6) 6-1
-- 24-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Jill Craybas (US) 6-1 6-2
-- Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 3-6 6-1 7-5
-- Katie O'Brien (Britain) beat Sandra Kloesel (Germany) 6-3 7-5
-- 19-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Elena Baltacha (Britain) 7-6(4) 3-6 6-2
-- 4-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Jamea Jackson (US) 6-1 6-3
-- 27-Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Kristina Brandi (Puerto Rico) 4-6 6-2 6-2
-- Nika Ozegovic (Croatia) beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-3 6-2
-- Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) beat Julia Schruff (Germany) 6-3 6-2
-- 10-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-0 6-1.
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