ISLAMABAD       -          Top seed Aqeel Khan routed Shahid Afridi in straight sets in the second round of the 5th Benazir Bhutto Shaheed National Ranking Tennis Championship 2109 played here at Islamabad Tennis Complex on Wednesday.

Aqeel took time to settle down in the first set before taking it 6-3 while he won the second set 6-1. Davis Cupper Shahzad Khan had to dig deep to beat Hameed-ul-Haq 6-3 and 6-4. In other matches of the men’s singles, Aman Atiq stunned experienced Mudasir Murtaza in straight sets 7-5 and 6-2 while Heera Asiq survived scare of Asadullah, who went down fighting 1-2, as Heera won the encounter 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Muzzamil Murtaza defeated M Shoaib 6-7(4), 6-2,  7-5, Yousaf Khalil beat Israr Gul 6-3, 6-1, Ahmed Ch beat Barkatullah 6-4, 4-6,  6-1 and Huzaifa A Rehman beat Sami Zeb 6-0, 6-1.

The highlight of the day was men’s doubles match between the pair of ace star Aisam and Aqeel Khan and brothers’ duo of Muzammil and Mudassar. In the first set, Muzammil/Mudassar put Aisam/Aqeel under tremendous pressure but the top seed pair bounced back well and first level the score at 3-all and then won the set 6-3. The second set was identical to the first one as there too, Aisam/Aqeel faced some resistance from the opponents before winning the set by 6-3 and set final date with Pakistan’s top junior players Huzaifa Abdul Rehman/M Shoaib, who stunned Davis Cuppers duo of Ahmed Chaudhry and Shahzad Khan in the second semifinal 6-4, 3-6, 10-5. The men’s doubles final will be played today (Thursday) at 2:00pm. Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla will be the chief guest.

In the boys’ U-18, Mahatir Muhammad beat Faizan Shahid 6-3 and 6-0, Farman Shakeel beat Uzair Khan 4-6, 6-2 and 6-0, Huzaifa Abdul Rehman beat Hamid Israr 0-6, 6-3 and 6-3, Faizan Fayyaz beat Azan Sajid 6-0 and 6-2, Hasheesh Kumar beat Noor e Mustafa 6-0 and 6-3. In boys’ U-14, Kamran Khan beat Azan Shahid 4-2 and 4-1, Ahtesham Humayun w/o Danish Afridi, Shasawar Khan w/o Umer Masood, Yahya Musa Luni beat Subhan Sahir 4-1 and 4-1, Taimur Khan w/o Awais Ahmed, Ali Zain beat Jarrar Hussain 4-1 and 4-0, Hamza Asim beat Asad Zaman 4-5 (5), 4-0 and 4-1. In the ladies singles first round, Saher Aleem w/o Farheen, Nida Akram beat Krisztina Jekkel 6-4, 0-6 and 6-0, Noor Malik (ZTBL) beat Faryal 6-1 and 6-1, Saher Aleem w/o Farheen, Sarah Mehboob beat Azeena Azeem 6-0 and 6-0 and Esha Jawad beat Adela Miron 6-1 and 6-1.

In boys/girls U-12, Husnain Ali Rizwan beat Zunaisha Noor 4-1 and 4-0 and Rayaan Saud beat Muhammad Shayan 4-2, 3-5 and 5-4 (5). In boys/girls U-10, Zohaib Afzal Malik beat Uzair Maqsood 4-0 and 4-0, Nabeel Qayum beat Abdul Basit 5-4(6) and 5-4(5), Hassan Usmani beat Esa Fahd Malik 4-0 and 4-0, Orhan Sohail beat Han li Jun 4-0 and 4-0 and Saqib Ali beat Essa Bilal 5-4 (7), 1-4 and 4-2.