LAHORE-Top seed Aqeel Khan and Muhammad Abid reached the men’s singles final of the SA Gardens Pakistan Open Tennis Championships 2021 after winning their respective semifinals played here at the Punjab Tennis Academy Bagh-e-Jinnah on Saturday. 
In the men’s singles semifinals, Aqeel was up against M Shoaib and utilized his experience and skills to win the encounter comfortably by 6-2, 6-4. The second semifinal saw M Abid defeating Barkart Ullah, who upset second seed Muzammil Murtaza, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. In men’s doubles quarterfinals, Aqeel/Ahmad beat Imran/Babar 6-4, 7-6, Abid/Waqas beat Aqib/Nofil 6-4, 6-1, Muzammil/Mudassar beat Yousaf/Heera 6-4, 6-4 and Barkat/Shoaib beat Kamil/Khurram 3-6, 6-3, 10-7. 
In the ladies singles quarterfinals, Sheeza Sajid beat Asfa Shahbaz 6-3, 6-4, Natalia Zaman beat Ashtifila Arif 6-0, 6-4 and ladies champion Ushna Suhail thrashed Shimza Durab 6-0, 6-0. In the boys U-14 quarterfinals, Haider Ali Rizwan beat Hamza Roman 6-3, 6-2, Shehryar Anees beat Hamza Ali Rizwan 7-6, 6-3, Ahtesham Humayun beat Sameer Zaman 6-0, 6-1 and Asad Zaman beat Ameer Mazari 7-6, 6-4. 
The highlight of the day was U-12 quarterfinal between top seed Haniya Minhas and Omer Jawad. After a long time, Omer upset high-flying Haniya 4-1, 3-5, 4-1 and also broke her winning streak in this particular category. In other quarterfinals, Ameer Mazari beat Hashir Alam 5-4, 5-4, Hamza Roman beat Sameer Zaman 4-0, (ret), Abubakar Talha beat Hamza Ali Rizwan 0-4, 4-1, 4-1. 
In U-10 quarterfinals, Abdur Rehman, who has won 7 gold medals so far in U-10 category this year, outpaced Eesha Rabi 4-1, 4-1, Mohammad Shayan Afridi routed Inam Bari 4-1, 4-1 and Hajra Sohail thrashed Salal Bugti 4-0, 4-0. In the boys U-18 doubles semifinals, Hasheesh/Mahatir beat Farman/Nalain 4-1, 5-4(8) and Faizan/Bilal beat Zalan/Hamid 4-2, 4-2. In seniors 40 plus doubles, Aqeel/Talha beat Shakeel/Israr 6-1, 6-2.