Marat Safin ended Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi's Wimbledon adventure on Thursday with an authoritative 6-4 6-2 7-6 victory in their second round encounter. Safin will face top seed Roger Federer in the third round and he said he was relishing the challenge.
"If I want to have a chance at least to be close to beating him, I have of course to put up my best game, go for it," he said. "I have nothing to lose because he's the favourite here."
The last time Safin beat Federer was in the semi-finals of the 2005 Australian Open on his way to the title. Federer leads their head-to-head tally 7-2, however.
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the first Pakistani to play in the Wimbledon men's singles in 31 years, said he would learn from his experience in London and hoped to build on it.
"It's a big step in my career," the world number 279 said. "I have a lot of self-belief that I can do well and be with the big boys in the top 100." Aisam said he had been hoping the often hot-headed Safin might explode under pressure and gift him some points but the Russian remained calm.
"I was hoping he was going to break a racket here or there but he didn't," he said. "I think today he was pretty cool headed."
The Pakistani, ranked 279 in the world, was caught out by several lobs and passing shots from the former US and Australian Open champion who is seeded 26th here. The Russian broke in the seventh game of the first set but wasted four set points before wrapping it up.
The former world number one broke immediately in the second set to establish a 3-1 lead, snatching another break in the seventh game. Aisam, backed by a vocal Pakistani contingent, pushed Safin hard in the third but the Russian eventually clinched the tiebreak 7-4.
Men's Singles Results:
Wimbledon men's singles second round results on Thursday (prefix number denotes seedings, * new result)
-- 14-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat Gilles Simon (France) 6-4 4-6 3-6 7-5 6-4
-- Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) beat 29-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 7-6(6) 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3
-- 16-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-2 6-2 6-1
-- Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Tim Henman (Britain) 7-6(3) 7-6(5) 3-6 2-6 6-1
-- 19-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Wang Yeu-tzuoo (Taiwan) 6-0 6-3 6-7(8) 6-4
-- 18-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 3-6 6-3 7-6(2) 2-6 6-3(2)
-- 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) 6-4 6-4 6-7(2) 7-6(8)
-- 9-James Blake (U.S.) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 6-4 6-3 6-3
-- 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4
-- 13-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) 6-3 7-6(5) 6-4
-- Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-4 6-3 6-4
-- Wayne Arthurs (Australia) beat 11-Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3
-- Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat 17-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3 6-4 6-3
-- 15-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-3 6-4
-- Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) beat 24-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6(3) 6-4 7-5
-- 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 6-2 7-5 6-1
-- 26-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) 6-4 6-2 7-6(4)
-- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-4 6-2 6-3
WOMEN'S SINGLES RESULTS:
-- Wimbledon women's singles second round results on Thursday (prefix number denotes seeding, * new result)
-- 26-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Alize Cornet (France) 4-6 6-0 6-3
-- 11-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Sania Mirza (India) 6-2 6-2
-- Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat 32-Martina Muller (Germany) 6-1 4-0 retired
-- 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Bethanie Mattek (U.S.) 7-6(2) 6-4
-- 28-Mara Santangelo (Italy) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-0 7-6(4)
-- 23-Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Hana Sromova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-2
-- 25-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 6-4 3-6 6-3
-- Aravane Rezai (France) beat 29-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4 2-6 6-4
-- 10-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 7-5 7-6(3)
-- Tamira Paszek (Austria) beat 17-Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-2 3-6 6-1
-- 6-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Meilen Tu (U.S.) 6-4 6-3
-- 15-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Roberta Vinci (Italy) 2-6 6-3 6-2
-- Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat 21-Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-1 6-3
-- 24-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-2 6-3
-- 12-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-2
-- 31-Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) beat Katie O'Brien (Britain) 6-0 6-1
-- 19-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Nika Ozegovic (Croatia) 6-1 6-1
-- 8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-2 6-1
-- 14-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-3 6-2