LAHORE - Youngster Huzaima Abdul Rehman on Monday upset third seed Muhammad Abid in the 4th EBM All Pakistan Open Tennis Championship 2019 men’s singles first round as the all the seeded players won their respective matches in the event being played here at PLTA courts.
Huzaima was in sublime form and played tremendous tennis to thwart one of the top seeds M Abid 6-2, 6-2. Huzaima put his opponent under pressure right from the beginning as he just conceded two points to win the first set 6-2. The second set was identical to the first one as Huzaima maintained his supremacy and outscored Abid with same margin of 6-2 to advance to the next round.
In other matches of the men’s singles first round, longest serving No 1 player Aqeel Khan thumped Abdal Haider 6-2, 6-2, Yashir Khan, the younger brother of Aqeel, beat Imran Bhatti 6-2, 6-3, Muzzamil Murtaza beat Aman Attique Khan 6-2, 6-3, Mudassir Murtaza edged out Waqas Malik 7-6, 7-6, Heera Ashiq routed Faizan Khurram 6-0, 7-5, Sikander Hayyat beat Zaryab Pirzada 6-3, 6-3, Ahmad Kamil beat M Abdullah 6-2, 6-2, Ahmad Ch beat Nalain Abbas 6-1, 6-1, M Shoaib Khan beat Shakir Ullah 6-3, 6-2, Bilal Farooq beat M Zubair 6-4, 6-1, Ijaz Ahmad Khan beat Saqib Hayyat 6-4, 6-4, Yousaf Khalil beat Israr 6-3, 6-3, Ahmad babar beat Ashir Ali khan 6-0,6-0 and Hassan Riaz beat Asad Ullah 7-6(5), 7-5.
In U-18 singles, Ahmad Kamil beat Musa Haroon 6-2, 6-0, Kamran Khan beat Arham Khan 3-6, 6-1, 10-4, Harris Wahla beat Saeed Suleman 6-0, 1-6, 10-5, M Shoaib Khan beat Athesham Arif 6-2, 6-3, M Abdullah beat Hazaima Abdul Rehman 6-4, 2-6, 10-5, Kashan Omer beat Mahtir Muhammad 6-3, 3-6, 10-5, Bilal Asim beat Shahzaib Zahid 6-4, 6-4, Nalain Abbas beat Saheel Durab 6-3, 6-2, Faizan Shahid beat Hamza Jawad 6-3, 6-4, Hamid Israr beat Waleed Javed 6-2, 6-0, Zain Ch beat Farman Shakeel 6-4, 6-4, Ifham Rana beat Osama Khan 6-1, 6-1, Hasheesh Kumar beat Abdul Hanan Khan 6-1, 6-4 and Semi Zeb beat Ahmad Amir 6-0, 6-1.
In U-14 first round, Asad Zaman beat Shehryar Anees 2-4, 4-2, 10-5 and Huzaima Abdul Rehman beat Zaeem Ghafoor 4-0, 4-0. In 35plus doubles, Shehryar Salamat/Ali Asad beat Rana Humyun/Hassan Said 6-2, 6-3. In 45 plus doubles, Brig Manzoor/Gul Hameed beat Kamran Hassan/Tipu 6-3, 6-0.
Malik, who is also tournament director, thanked EBBM Chairman Khawar Masood Butt and Director Shahzen Munir for sponsoring the event and lauded their support towards the development of tennis in Pakistan. “Pakistan sports need sponsors like EBM, as the more sponsors will come forward to patronage the sports, the better talent will come forward after a through process and those champions will produce better results for the country at international level.”
The PLTA secretary also appreciated Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Vice Chairman Rai Zahid Qayyum, Secretary Sports Nadeem Mehboob and DG Adnan Arshad Aullakh for their positive support to uplift the game of tennis and approving five more courts at Nishtar Park Tennis Stadium. “If these courts are constructed, we can have all the big events like Asia Cup, Pakistan Open and the entire ITF-allocated Junior Tennis Initiative (JTI) Programs there, which will help in grooming the youth of Pakistan and promoting this lovely game across the country.
“I would also like to appreciate Iftikhar Anmad Rao for his sincere efforts for giving PLTA’s Punjab Tennis Academy world class facilities to build the nurseries and prepare them for Pakistan team and fight for Pakistan at international level. I am very hopeful that future of Pakistan tennis is very bright, if such persons continue to support Pakistan tennis,” Malik concluded.