ISLAMABAD - Muzammil Murtaza dethroned the longest serving No 1 tennis player Aqeel Khan to clinch 5th Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan Memorial National Ranking Tennis Tournament men’s singles trophy here at Senator DIlawar Abba PTF Complex on Sunday.
It was second title on trout for Muzammil, who had also beaten Aqeel in the final of the 5th Benazir Bhutto National Ranking Tennis Championship last month. CEO Eighteen Tarik Hamdy graced the occasion as chief guest, besides a large number of diplomats including British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner and his wife, Ambassador of Hungry Istvan Szabo and wife and diplomatic staff of the Swedish embassy. Saifullah family was represented by former Federal Ministers and parliamentarians Humayun Saifullah Khan, Anwer Saifullah Khan, Senator Osman Saifullah Khan and his wife as well as Asad Saifullah Khan.
In the men’s singles final, second seed Muzammil Murtaza was up against top seed Aqeel Khan. Muzammil is fast becoming nemeses of Aqeel and it seems like finally Aqeel’s two decades dominance over Pakistan tennis is coming to an end. Muzammil is playing world class tennis especially when it comes to playing against top guns of the country. He completely demolished M Shoaib in the semifinals earlier, as Shoaib was making waves in tennis and was inflicting upset victories on the top players. Same happened again, as Aqeel had no answers to the pace, agility and fire power posses by Muzammil, who was looking cool, calm and composed, which helped him win the first set 6-4 in 35 minutes.
The second set saw both the players playing world class tennis and amusing the spectators with their powerful shots, returns and long rallies. Both were trying to put each other under pressure and matching fire-with-fire as the score was 5-all. After playing so well, Aqeel lost the momentum while Muzammil never required any second invitation as the he broke the second game of Aqeel to take the set 7-5 in 45 minutes, thus lifting another title against the top seed.
Earlier, Aqeel and Muzmamil teamed up to beat M Abid/Waqas Malik to grab the doubles title. Aqeel/Muzammil lost the first set 4-6, before winning the second 6-4 and third set on super tie breaker 10-8. Former kings of Pakistan tennis Rashid Malik (ZTBL) and Hameed-ul-Haq overcame Israr Gul and Irfanullah 4-6, 6-1, 10-8 to grab the seniors 45+ doubles title.
Young tennis sensation Mahin teamed up with Ushna Suhail of Wapda to land the ladies doubles title defeating the pair of Sara Mansoor/Sarah Mahboob in one-sided final by 6-1, 6-4. M Shoaib won the boys U-18 title after beating Subhan bin Salik 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. In the boys U-14 final, Bilal Asim beat Haider Ali Rizwan 6-2, 6-3 while in boys U-14 doubles final, M Huzaifa Khan/Hamid Israr beat Ahmed Nael/Bilal Asim 4-1, 4-0.
In boys/girls U-12 final, Hamza Roman beat Husnain Ali Rizwan 4-2, 3-5, 4-2 while in boys/girls U-10 final, Hamza Ali Rizwan of LGS Paragon Lahore beat M Hassan Usmani 4-0, 5-4(2) to claim the title.