ISLAMABAD                       -                King Aqeel Khan annexed defeated Muzammil Murtaza 2-1 in the final to annex men’s singles title in the 33rd Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championship 2020 here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Complex on Sunday.

Aqeel again proved that he still had something left in him. After losing two finals against Muzammil, he came back strongly and first won the 5th Serena Hotels title, beating Muzammil and now after going 0-1 down, Aqeel bounced back well and beat Muzammil again for the title.  In the first set, Aqeel raced onto take 2-0 lead but Muzammil fought back well and broke third game of Aqeel and then held onto his serve to make it 2-all. Despite being not even half fit, Muzammil was playing flawless tennis and dominated the set, which he won 6-3 in 33 minutes.

In the second set, Mzuammil, who was fully aware that he was not well and with more time passes, it will be impossible for him to carry on, so he was putting more pressure on Aqeel, who finally managed to break eighth game of Muzammil and smartly won the second set 6-3 in 29 minutes. After playing for more than an hour, Muzammil’s face was telling the exact story as he was freaking and was hardly able to stand. Aqeel then started playing aggressive game and took 4-2 lead, when Muzammil finally conceded the match.

Aqeel Khan earned the cash prize of Rs 60,000 and trophy, Muzammil Murtaza pocketed Rs 40,000 and trophy and Shahzad/Abid won the doubles title. The ladies singles final between Sara Mansoor and Sarah Mahboob will be played on February 14 as both are part of Pakistan Fed Cup team, which is presently in New Zealand.

A total of Rs 350,000 were distributed as prize money. Islamabad Tennis Association (ITA) Secretary Arif Qureshi paid glowing tributes to late Syed Dilawar Abbas for the establishment of ITA and valuable contributions for uplift of tennis in Islamabad as well as across the country. ITA President Tariq Murtaza graced the occasion as chief guest and distributed prizes and medals among the players. The medals were also awarded to members of ladies team, which won bronze medal in the National Games. PTF President Salim Saifullah Khan, SVP Khawar Hyat, Secretary Col (R) Gul Rehman, Saeed Ahmed, Hassan Baig, Nighat Saeed along with tennis lovers witnessed the entertaining final.