Aqeel Khan notches Honda Cup Tennis

LAHORE Pakistan number one tennis player Aqeel Khan won the All Pakistan Honda Cup Tennis Championship here at the K21 Model Town Club. Aqeel beat his younger brother and Davis Cup team-mate Jalil Khan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. After winning the toss, Aqeel who is very well known for his excellent first serve with above 60 per cent showed his skill in the entire match, especially in the inaugural set. He started taking his serve game with ease. His high percentage of first serve points forced Jaleel Khan to return the shots mostly in the mid court area which were placed by Aqeel with no error in the both corners of the court and over powered Jaleel in the first set by braking three serves of his opponent he convincingly won the first set 6-4. Jaleel, however, changed his strategy in the second set and started coming on net doing some kick serve on back-hand side of Aqeel. In particular, his deadly drop shots forced Aqeel to do a lot of extra physical work. Both players went with the serves till score reached four-games all. At this stage Jaleel succeeded to brake Aqeels service followed by holding his own and won the second set 6-4. In the third set, Aqeel showed more maturity and started playing with defensive approach, by remaining on baseline. Slicing the ball from backhand side, making less unforced errors than Jaleel, Aqeel remained more cool and held his service games with care. Jaleel could not hold his service games a couple of times and lost the third set 3-6. Aqeel was awarded Honda Motor Bike as a winning prize while Jaleel received Rs 30,000 cash price for runner up position. Sayed Dilawar Abbas, Senator and president Pakistan Tennis Federation was the chief guest. Naseer Bhutta MNA, Wadood Butt Marketing Head Atlas Honda, Sidiqui Manager Director MAKRO, Rao Akbar Latif President K-21 Club and M. Mujahid Qureshi Patron K21 club were also present at this occasion.

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