ISLAMABAD - Lai Yu-Shun of Chinese Taipei outperformed fifth seed Muhammad Nauman Aftab in straight sets on the opening day of the ITA-SNGPL ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championship 2019 here at the Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex on Monday.
The entire complex was packed with players, parents and spectators on the opening day, in which total 16 matches were decided.
The event started with the biggest upset, as un-seeded Shun eliminated Nauman in straight sets. It was a one-way contest, as Nauman could not pose any challenge to his opponent, who was looking in tremendous form. He started the first set with some powerful shots and kept on pushing Nauman to all sides of the court. He was fully aware of his opponent’s weaknesses, as he deliberately reduced the pace of the game to let Nauman use all his powers. After sensing that Nauman has consumed all his energy, he simply moved up the pace of the game and took the first set 6-3 in 27 minutes.
The second set was also completely dominated by Shun, who was toying and teaching tennis lessons to his opponent. Nauman was lacking energy to resist powerful shots of his opponent, while Shun was simply running away with the match. Shun played flawless tennis and took the second set 6-0 to move into the second round.
In another match, Korean Kim Dong Hwan hammered seventh seed Saqib Hayat of Pakistan. This match was also a one-way contest, as Kim was in sublime form. He won the first set 6-1 without any resistance from his opponent. Saqib played good tennis and tried to match fire with fire in the second set. Kim was looking nervous and facing tough fight from his opponent. However, Saqib could not maintain the momentum in the later part of the game and lost the set 4-6.
The encounter between Fayzullaev Ibrokhim of Uzbekistan and Osama Khan of Pakistan was the best game of the day. The thrilling two-set match was won by Fayzullaev in 100 minutes. The first set was played on a high-tempo, as both the players were fighting hard. The score was 6-6 before it went to 9-9 in the well-contested tie-break. Ultimately, Fayzullaev won the set 11-9. The second set was also a nail-biting contest, as both the players were eagerly snatching points from each other. The score was 4-4 before Fayzullaev won the second set 6-4.
All the remaining seeded players moved into the next round by beating their respective opponents in the first round. In other first round matches, Yahha Luni beat Taibzada Bilal, 6-0 and 6-0, Kim Min-Joon thrashed Muhammad Talha Khan, 6-0 and 6-0, Ratnayake Kavisha defeated Zalan Khan, 6-2 and 6-3, Hamid Israr Gul outplayed Tootoonchi Moghadam, 6-2 and 7-6(2), Shoaib Khan outclassed Subhan Bin Salik, 6-1 and 6-3, Shamsutdinov Oybekimirzo outperformed Jawad Hayat, 6-0 and 6-2, Lu Chen-Yu beat Semi Zeb Khan, 6-3 and 6-0, Knese Luca Emanuel defeated Huzaifa Khan, 6-3 and 6-3, Kamil Ahmed stunned Tan Curtis Hong Tseng, 6-2 and 6-1, Gunuk Kang overcame Muhammad Hadin, 6-2 and 6-0, and Aryan Giri beat Ahmed Qureshi, 6-0 and 6-0.
In girls’ matches, Asima Sazanova defeated Zoha Asim, 6-0 and 6-2, and Leyla Nilufer Elmas beat Imsha Jawad, 6-1 and 6-1.