ISLAMABAD - Nofil Kaleem Imam continued winning spree as he brushed aside experienced Khalid Mehmood Khan of Peshawar in a three-set encounter 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 in the 1st Ch Rehmat Ali Memorial PTF National Ranking Championship here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
It was the second big upset made by Nofil who outclassed Davis Cupper Usman Ejaz in the first round and in the second, he did it again. Other seeded players including Aqeel Khan, M Abid, Usman Rafiq, Shahzad Khan, Jalil Khan, Ahmed Ch and Heera Ashiq moved to the quarterfinals by defeating their respective opponents.
In the first set, experienced Khalid Mehmood take the first set 6-2. Nofil then bounced back and taught a tennis lesson to Khalid in the next two sets. He first outclassed Khalid in the second set winning it 6-0 while in the third and decisive set, he lost just one point and won the set 6-1.
Aqeel beat Abdul Rehman Malik of Multan in a one-sided affair 6-1, 6-1, Heera Ashiq of Lahore overwhelmed former Davis Cupper Hameedul Haq 6-1, 6-1 while the third seeded Abid edged out M Mudassar in a well-contested two-set match 6-1, 7-6(6). M Abid, Jaleel Khan and Ahmed Ch won their matches in straight sets.
The best encounter of the day was played between Shahzad Khan and Imran Shaukat. Both the players displayed quality tennis and managed to retain their respective serves in both sets. Shahzad won the match 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in tie breaks. The match lasted for one hour and 45 minutes. Usman Rafiq of (SNGPL) eliminated Shahzad of PAF in another thrilling match of the day.
The quarterfinals of men's singles will be played today (Thursday) at 10, while junior U-18 singles and men's doubles will be held at 2:30pm.