LAHORE - Determined Yousaf Khalil squeezed into the semifinals of the 6th Hassan Tariq Rahim National Ranking Tennis Championship 2021 after stunning Pakistan No 1 Aqeel Khan in the quarterfinals played here at the Lahore Gymkhana Club tennis courts on Thursday.
In the men’s singles quarterfinals, spirited Yousaf Khalil was up against the longest serving No 1 Aqeel Khan and defeated him by 6-2, 7-6(6). Yousaf made a sterling start, playing superb tennis against the maestro to win the first set 6-2. Though Yousaf faced tough resistance from tennis maestro in the second set, yet he remained firm and strong and won the set 7-6(6), thus earned a place in the semifinals.
In other men’s singles quarters, Muzamil Murtaza proved too hot for Shehzad Khan and won the encounter 6-1, 4-0 (rtd) while M Abid beat Heera Ashiq 6-2, 6-2 and M Shoaib beat Mudassar Murtaza 6-2, 7-6(4). In the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals, Muzamil Murtaza/Mudassar Murtaza beat Imran Bhatti/Ahmad Babar 6-2, 6-3, Muhammad Abid/Muhammad Waqas Malik beat Shahzad Khan/Faizan Khurram 6-0, 6-4 and Ahmad Chaudhry/Abdaal Haider beat Asad Ullah/Ijaz Khan 6-3, 3-6, 19-17.
In the ladies singles pre-quarterfinals, ladies champion Ushna Suhail played tremendous tennis against Nida Akram and outclassed her by 6-0,6-0 while Esha Jawad faced little resistance from Ashtafila Arif before winning the encounter 6-2, 6-2.
In the boys U-18 pre-quarterfinals, Faizan Fayyaz beat Kamran Khan 6-4, 7-5, Abdullah Adnan beat Shaeel Durab 6-1, 6-0, Bilal Asim beat Hassam Khan 6-4, 6-2, Hamid Israr beat Ahmad Nael Qureshi 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 and Mahatir Muhammad beat Husnain Ali Rizwan 6-0, 6-2. In the boys U-18 quarterfinals, Semi Zeb Khan beat Mahatir Muhammad 6-2, 6-1 and Hamid Israr beat Bilal Asim 7-5, 6-1.