LAHORE - Top seeds Aqeel Khan and Muhammad Abid squeezed into the quarterfinals of the 3rd Nayza All Pakistan Open Tennis Championship being played here at Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) courts.
In men’s singles pre-quarterfinals on Friday, Pakistan’s longest serving number one tennis player Aqeel Khan defeated spirited Asadullah in straight sets. Aqeel started the match well, taking 3-0 lead by smashing some powerful shots and then started toying with Asad, who took advantage of the situation and leveled the score at 3-3. Aqeel then started playing his natural game and won the next three points in a row to take the first set 6-3. The second set was identical to the first one, where once again Aqeel conceded three points to win the set 6-3 and booked berth in the quarterfinals.
Muhammad Abid faced tough resistance from fighter Ahmed Chaudhary to win the encounter 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Ahmed was in supreme form in the first set and played some outstanding shots from baseline and took the set 6-4. It was that Ahmed could get from the match as Abid started playing aggressive game and thrashed his opponent in the second set 6-1 and then tamed him 6-3 in the third set to win the match and place in the quarterfinals.
Experienced Heera Ashiq played superb tennis against Malik Abdul Rehman and overpowered him by 6-4, 6-2 while Muhammad Shoaib had to struggle hard to beat Ahmed Babar by 3-6, 6-3, 6-0, Yousaf Khalil beat Waqas Malik 6-3, 6-1, Abdaal Haider beat Ahmed Waqas 6-4, 6-2, Muzamil Murtaza beat Barkat Ullah 6-2, 7-5 and Mudassar Murtaza beat Usmam Rafique 6-2, 6-4 to make way to the quarterfinals.
In U-18 first round matches, Izhar Iftikhar, M Shoaib, Parbhat Kumar, Musa Haroon, Musa Chaudhary, Nalain Abbas and Osama Khan won their respective matches and advanced to the second round. Izhar Iftikhar beat Zain Ch 6-2, 6-3, M Shoaib beat Hassan Ali 6-1, 6-2, Parbhat Kumar beat Farman Shakeel 6-2, 6-2, Musa Haroon beat Syed Muhammad Mustafa 6-2, 7-5, Musa Chaudhary beat Sufwan Adil 6-0, 6-0, Nalain Abbas beat Ibrahim 6-1, 6-1 and Osama Khan beat Inam Arif 6-1, 6-2.
In U-14 first round, Shaeel Durab, Husnain Ali Rizwan, Hamza Jawad, Yahya Musa Luni, Ahmed Nael and Waleed Jawed carved out sensational victories and moved to the next round. Shaeel Durab beat Ghazi Ahmed 4-2, 4-2, Husnain Ali Rizwan beat Asad 4-1, 4-1, Hamza Jawad beat Ali sheikh 4-0, 4-0, Yahya Musa Luni beat Shehryar Anees 4-2, 4-2, Ahmed Nael beat Shahzaib Zahid 4-2, 4-2 and Waleed Jawed beat Amaan Nadeem 4-0, 4-0.
In seniors 40 plus doubles, Maj Adnan/Talha Waheed beat Mehboob Waheed/Pervaiz 6-3, 6-3, Arif Feroz/Shakeel Ahmad beat Hassan Saeed/Rana Nadeem 6-2, 6-1, Fayyaz Khan/Ashir Ali Khan beat Rana Humayun/Shahbaz Ahmad 6-0, 6-0 and Israr Gul/Jahnzeb Khan beat Asim Qurashi/M Abbas 6-1, 6-2.
Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) secretary and former Davis Cupper Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), tennis players, their families and a great number of tennis enthusiasts were present on the occasion and witnessed the enthralling and exciting matches. The ladies singles matches will get underway today (Saturday) here at the PLTA courts.
