ISLAMABAD - Samir Iftikhar and M Muzammil moved into the second round of the Serena Hotels ITF Futures Tennis Tournament, 2017, which was played here at Pakistan Sports Complex hard courts Tuesday.
Top seed Ivan Nedelko displayed quality tennis to win accolades from the crowd. The men’s singles first round culminated on a good note as Muzamil Murtaza and Samir Iftikhar progressed into the second round. Muzamil proved too good for Russian opponent Dmitry Myagkov. Samir breezed past compatriot Usman Rafique in straight sets. Gleb Alekseenko defetaed Luka Pavlovic of France but his brother Vadim Alekseenko was beaten by Kelsey Stevenson from Singapore in three sets.
Pakistan no 1 Aqeel Khan failed to make it into the second round after being outclassed by the Spanish fourth Seed Pere Riba, who showed excellent skills and proved his mettle. Shahzad Khan, who was drawn against the top seed Russian Nedelko had a hard task set for him and the Russian proved too good for Shahzad. Yousaf Khalil displayed exciting tennis and pushed his Russian Oleg Besednikov to the limits but lost after a hard fought in three sets. Russian third seed Kristian Lozan, Austrian seventh seed Peter Goldsteiner, Ukranian eighth seed Alexander Lebedyn and Roy Hobbs from Singapore also progressed into the next round .
RESULTS: Pere Riba (ESP) [4] beat Aqeel Khan (PAK) 6-2, 6-2; Kristian Lozan (RUS) [3] beat Abdur Rehman (PAK): 6-0, 6-1; Peter Goldsteiner (AUT) [7] beat Mudassar Murtaza (PAK): 6-0, 6-2; Roy Hobbs (SGP) beat Fariduni Bekhodur (TJK): 6-2, 6-1, Muzammil Murtaza (PAK) beat Dmitry Myagkov (RUS); 6-3, 6-2, Gleb Alekseenko (UKR) beat Luka Pavlovic (FRA): 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, Oleg Besednikov (RUS) beat Yousaf Khalil (PAK): 7-6 (3), 6-3; Alexandr Lebedyn (UKR) [8] beat Anton Chekhov (RUS): 6-2, 7-5, Samir Iftikhar (PAK) beat Usman Rafique (PAK), 6-0, 6-2, Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) beat Vadim Alekseenko (UKR): 6-4, 7-6 (9) ; Ivan Nedelko (RUS) [1] beat Shahzad Khan (PAK): 6-3, 6-3; David Perez Sanz (ESP) [2] beat Ivan Ponomarenko (RUS): 6-3, 6-2.