ISLAMABAD - Youngster Muhammad Shoaib stunned Davis Cupper Shahzad Khan in straight sets in the men’ singles second round match of the 5th Begum Kalsoom Saifullah Khan Memorial National Ranking Tennis Tournament here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Complex on Thursday.
Total 36 matches were played on the third day of the event. The match of the day was played between young Shoaib and experienced Shahzad Khan. In the first set, Shahzad was serving with lot of venom and pace as his bullet-speed aces were too hot to handle for Shoaib, who looked a bit nervy in the start, but later on, he got relaxed and started playing superbly which helped him overcome spirited Shahzad and win the first set 6-4.
The second set also started on a high tempo as Shahzad was fighting for his prestige and wasn’t ready to concede form a junior player. His powerful aces and ground shots were paying off but Shoaib remained ice cool and played tremendous tennis to grab the second set 6-1 and booked berth in quarterfinals.
Another upset was witnessed when unseeded Barkatullah eliminated 7th seed Ahmed Chaudhary in a hard-fought 3-set match. Barkat won the first set 6-4 and lost the second 4-6 but then he won the decisive third set 6-1 to register victory. In other men’s singles, Mudassar Murtaza beat Nalian Abbas 6-0, 6-1, Yousaf Khalil beat Shahid Afrid 6-2, 6-2, Muzammil Murtaza beat Imran Bhatti 6-2, 6-2, Aqeel Khan beat Ejaz Khan 6-4, 6-4, M Abid beat Ahmed Baber 6-4, 6-4 and Heera Asique beat Mian Bilal 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
In men’s doubles, Mian Bilal/Imran Bhatti beat Ibrahim Omer/Ahmed Kamil 6-2 and 7-5, Heera Ashique/Yousaf Khalil beat Shahzad Khan/Usman Ejaz 6-2 and 6-4 while Abbas Khan/Shakir Ullah got w/o against Shaheen Mehmood/Shahid Afridi. In ladies singles quarterfinals, Mahin Aftab thrashed Meheq Khokhar 6-1 and 6-1, Sarah Mahboob beat Saher Aleem 6-0 and 6-0 and Noor Malik beat Mariam Mirza 6-2 and 6-0.
In boys 18&under second round, Aqib Hayat, Hasheesh Kumar, M Shoaib, Subhan Bin Salik, Mahatir Muhammad, Hamza Aasim and Nalian Abbas emerged as winners. In boys U-14 second round, Bilal Asim beat Eesa Bilal 4-0 and 4-0, Hussnain Ali Rizwan of LGS Paragon Lahore beat Faisal Khalil 4-0 and 4-1, Shahswar beat Ahmed Nail 4-0, 3-5 and 4-2, Asad Zaman beat Mustansar Ali 4-0 and 4-0, Haider Ali Rizwan of LGS Paragon beat Inam Qadir 4-0 and 4-0, Saim Shahzad w/o Afzal Khan. In boys/girls U-12 second round, Taimoor Khan beat Hammad Shah 0-4, 5-3 and 4-0 and Ahtesham Hamayun beat Eesa Bilal 4-0 and 4-0.
