There is nothing like aiming high and little point in aiming for anything less than the top.

Colin Fleming last night began his Australian Open quest in tandem with Ross Hutchins by beating the Americans Ryan Harrison and Ryan Sweeting 7-5, 7-6 and the Scot believes that nothing is beyond them in 2012, not even a grand slam title.

Not just because of the Olympics, though they are a huge goal for the 27-year-old – "It's been in the back of my mind since Wimbledon," he said – but also because, after several years of grafting, he and Hutchins have shown enough in the past eight months to suggest that they may be capable of great things together.

"I honestly believe, with some of the results we've had, that we could win a grand slam, playing together," Fleming told Herald Sport. "It's something that we had to sort of come to terms with in our own minds but it's about building belief that you can actually do it.

"With the results we've had and some of the matches we've played we've showed we're capable of it. I think we've really got to start believing in it."

There was not a hint of arrogance in his words, just a belief that big things may be around the corner. The manner in which he and Hutchins fought back from 5-3 down here yesterday against the big-hitting American pair to ease through in straight sets smacks of a pair high on confidence. They will take on Alex Bogomolov Jr, another American, and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia tomorrow.

"We were sharp today," Fleming said. "And I think it's just as well we were, because otherwise we'd have been on our way home."

Quarter-final appearances at Wimbledon and the US Open last year showed he and Hutchins have the ability to play at the top level and being seeded at the first grand slam event of the year shows just how far they have come.

When you think that Hutchins missed part of 2011 through injury, the pair did well to finish the year ranked as highly as they did. Victory in St Petersburg was actually their first title together but they are respected by the world's top pairs. "Wimbledon was a big breakthrough," Fleming said. "From there we kept it going throughout the year. Confidence is a big part of it [the improvement] but I think also we've got a lot of belief in each other, we're both very open about what we need to do to improve and we also praise each other for what we're good at. We've got a good team thing going.

"A grand slam is obviously a career goal but short term we've got to get ourselves in 500s and Masters 1000s regularly and competing with the top teams all the time to build that experience."

Fleming enjoyed success at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and is desperate to make it for London. "I think the cut [to qualify] in Beijing was 74 and I think we are that ranking combined," he said. "So we're right there and we want to be there on merit. People say there might be home nation wildcards but we don't want to rely on that. We're aiming to be there on merit so to be there would be tremendous."

In Delhi, he won the gold medal in the mixed doubles with Jocelyn Rae. Would he take another one in mixed in London? "I'd take it, for sure, I'd bite your hand off right now."

Fleming is teaming up with the American Liezel Huber in the mixed doubles in Melbourne but they face a tough test against the No.3 seeds, Maria Kirilenko of Russia and the Canadian Daniel Nestor in the first round. Jamie Murray and China's Peng Shuai take on the Polish/American pairing of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Abigail Spears, with a prospective second round meeting with the second seeds Nenad Zimonjic, of Serbia, and the Slovene Katarina Srebotnik.