Aisam qualifies for second round of Australian Open

Aisam and Cacic won the match by a scoreline of 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4

By Web Desk
January 19, 2023
Aisam plays a forehand shot — AFP

Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq has qualified for the second round in the men’s doubles event of the ongoing Australian Open.

Aisam and his Serbian partner Nikola Cacic won their first round match on Thursday against Portuguese pair of Joao Sousa and Francisco Cabral.

Aisam and Cacic won the match by a scoreline of 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 despite losing the opening set.

The winning team won 3/4 break points during the match with a winning percentage of 74 percent on their first serve.

The unseeded pair of Aisam and Cacic will face Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the next round.

It must be noted that Aisam’s best performance at the Australian Open, where he has been regularly featuring since 2010, came in 2018, when he qualified for the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles event. Meanwhile, he was knocked out in the second round in the previous two occasions.

On the other hand, this is Cacic’s fourth appearance in the main draw of the men’s doubles event. He was ousted in the first round in previous three occasions.

Ruud beaten as Australian Open loses another top seed

Second seed Casper Ruud was sent packing in the Australian Open second round Thursday with defeat to hard-hitting American Jenson Brooksby, a day after Rafael Nadal also went out.

The Norwegian Ruud, who took a medical timeout after the second set, succumbed 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 to the 39th-ranked Brooksby on Rod Laver Arena.

His early exit left the tournament without its top two seeds in week one after Nadal´s shock loss on the same court Wednesday to another American in Mackenzie McDonald.

It opens the door to Novak Djokovic winning a 10th Melbourne title and temporarily derails Ruud´s dreams of becoming world number one.

The 24-year-old Ruud´s defeat ended any hope he had of assuming the world number one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz, who is absent from Melbourne with an injury.

Only two players can now achieve the feat if they lift the trophy — Serbian superstar Djokovic or Greek third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

According to the governing body ATP, Ruud could have done so by winning or simply reaching the final, as long as neither Djokovic nor Tsitsipas claimed the title.

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