ISLAMABAD - Top seed Aqeel Khan and second seed M Abid will vie for the top honours in the men’s singles final of the First Chairman POF Board National Ranking Tennis Championships.
In the first semi-final on Friday, Aqeel displayed quality tennis throughout the match. He won the first set 6-1 by breaking 4th and 6th games of Heera Ashiq. It was 3 all in the second set as both players held their respective serves. Aqeel won the set 6-4 by breaking the 10th game of Heera. Aqeel won the third set with same margin of 6-4 by breaking 5th game of Heera and won the match in one hour and 50 minutes. In the second semi-final, Abid defeated Muzammil Murtaza in a well-contested marathon match which lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes. In the 1st set Muzammil played aggressively and took the set 6-4. Abid came back in the match by winning the second set 6-4 and then build up winning lead of 4-2 by breaking 6th game of Muzammil in the third set. Muzammil bounced back and broke the 7th game of Abid. But Abid won the 3rd set by breaking again 12th game of Muzammil. Abid won the 4th set 6-4 to seal the fate of the match.
Hamid Israr won the boys’ U-10 title by beating Hamza Roman in straight sets 4-1, 4-1. In boys’ U-14 singles semi-final, M Shoaib beat Nalain Abbas 7-5,6-4; Hamza Bin Rehan beat Sami Zaib 6-3,6-3. In seniors 45 plus doubles semifinals, Jehanzeb Khan/Israr Gul beat Col Farrukh/Maj Mazhar 6-1, 6-2 and Irfan ullah Khan/Nauman Aleem Durrani beat Brig Allah Nawaz/Aftab Ahmed Memon 4-6,6-0, 10-4.
