ISLAMABAD - Pakistan No 1 junior player Muzammil Murtaza continued his winning streak in the ITF Junior Circuit Week 1, Grade-5 tournament, as he routed Chang Lin Tsai of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals to make his way to the semifinals in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
According to information made available here on Thursday, it was very close battle in the quarterfinals as Muzammil was stretched to the limit by Chang, because he started slowly in the first set. After 6-6 draw, Muzammil changed gears and played aggressively from the baseline, which resulted in Chang committing mistakes and allowed Muzammil to take the first set 7-6 (5).
In the second set, Chang started playing aggressive tennis, while Muzammil was just forced to play what Chang wanted him to do. After 4-4 draw, Muzammil started playing his natural game and forced Chang to panic, but he somehow managed to hold onto his serve. The set was once again decided on tie-break, where Muzammil prevailed once again and took it 7-6 (4) to make his way to the semifinal.
Muzammil also made it to the semifinals of the doubles event, as partnering with Rin Muller of Netherlands, he beat M Althaf Dhaifullah/Giorgio Alessandro Somarno of Indonesia in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. In the first set, Althaf/Alessandro tried to put up decent show and played well before losing the set 6-4, but in the second set, Muzammil/Muller simply dictated their terms and took the set 6-3 to earn right of playing in the doubles semifinals.
Talking to The Nation, Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) treasurer M Khalil Chughtai said: “It was by all means highly sensational and more than satisfactory performances shown by the highly talented Muzammil and it also shows that Pakistan is blessed with immense amount of talent, federation despite limited resources, trying level best to provide opportunities to youngsters at every level.
“Muzammil is participating in three back-to-back ITF Junior Circuit Grade-5 events in Colombo, which will continue till September 25 and hopefully, he will show good results and improve his international junior rankings,” Khalil concluded.