LAHORE - Rashid Malik (ZTBL) outpaced young Mian Bilal as all the top seeded players breezed into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the 3rd Shehryar Malik Memorial National Grass Court Tennis Championship 2019 here at PLTA courts on Tuesday.
The prestigious national championship was jointly inaugurated by PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) and Sid Siddique, while a great number of players and their families were also present on the occasion.
The highlight of the day was first round match between ZTBL’s Rashid Malik and 25-year-old Mian Bilal, where Malik emerged as winner by 6-3, 6-2 to enter the pre-quarterfinals. Malik got a wildcard to enter the main round, where he was up against young Bilal. Although Malik’s serve got broken during the first set but he broke back him and then dominated the set with the execution of lethal backhand slice shots to win the set by 6-3.
Malik was even more stable in the second set as he was leading 5-1, however, Bilal managed to take a couple of games. But Malik repeated the same strategy and played excellent slice shots followed by some tremendous volley play, which helped him win the set by 6-2, thus booked berth in the pre-quarterfinals.
Earlier, eight players qualified for the main draw of 32 men’s singles first round, where top players of the country seemed contesting for the top honours. Defending champion Aqeel Khan, M Abid, Muzammil Murtaza and Muddasir Murtaza had comfortable victories over their opponents.
Aqeel Khan played superbly against Waqas Ahmad and overpowered his opponent by 6-2, 6-2. Imran Bhatti was up against Abdaal Haider and thumped him 6-3, 6-3 while Waqas Malik toppled Shakir Ullah 6-3, 6-2. Veteran Shehzad Khan easily outlasted Azeem Khan by 6-2, 6-0 while Mudassar Murtaza downed Abdullah Adnan 6-4, 6-3 and Usman Rafiq routed Hassan Riaz 6-2, 6-2.
Yousaf Khalil had to struggle hard to beat Nauman Aftab by 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 while Heera Ashiq outclassed Ahmad Ch 6-1, 6-1. Abid Ali Akbar outsmarted Saqib Omer 6-3, 6-3 while Asad Ullah beat Israr Gul 6-3, 7-5, Muzamil Murtaza overpowered Malik Abdul Rehman 6-1, 6-3, Ahmad Babar toppled Shoaib 6-3, 6-3, Yasir Khan trounced Ijaz Khan 6-1, 6-2, Barkatullah beat Faizan Khurram 6-3, 6-2 and M Abid outpaced Ahmad Kamil 6-2, 6-2.