LAHORE - Pakistan’s longest serving No 1 tennis player Aqeel Khan, M Abid, Muzammil Murtaza and Mudassir Murtaza moved into the men’s singles quarterfinals in the Nayza All Pakistan Open Tennis Championship 2019, which commenced here at PLTA Courts on Monday.
PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) graced the opening ceremony as chief guest and inaugurated the championship. Other notables present on the occasion were PLTA Senior Vice President Afzaal Shareef, PTF Vice President M Haroon, Rafum Group Assistant Manager Marketing Malik Nauman, players and their families and tennis enthusiasts.
In the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals, Aqeel Khan overwhelmed Ayaz Khan 6-2, 6-1. Aqeel played aggressive tennis right from beginning and didn’t allow his opponent to play freely, thus won the first set 6-2 and conceded just one in the second set to take it 6-1. M Abid faced some resistance from spirited Ahmad Babar before beating him 7-5, 6-1.
Muzamil Murtaza proved too hot for Faizan Fayyaz as he outclassed his opponent by 6-0, 6-1 while his brother Mudassir Murtaza also played well against Ahmed Kamil and outperformed him 6-2, 6-4. Seasoned campaigner Heera Ashiq thumped Saqib Hayyat 6-1, 6-1, veteran Shahzad Khan toppled Ibrahem Umer 6-0, 6-2 while Ahmad Ch outscored Ijaz Khan 6-0, 6-2 as all the seeded players breezed into the quarterfinals of the men’s singles.
In the ladies single pre-quarterfinals, Pakistan’s first and only world ranked player Ushna Suhail thrashed young Zunaira Tariq 6-0, 6-0 while former No 1 Sarah Mehboob outlasted Maliha Khalid 6-0, 6-2, emerging player Noor Malik (ZTBL) routed Astafila Arif 6-1, 6-1, Esha Jawad crushed Zohra Salman 6-0, 6-0, Marrium Mirza trounced Marrium Shahid 6-0, 6-0 and Shimza Durrab outperformed Khadija Shafiq 6-0, 6-0.
The Under-18 boys first round saw Asish Kumar beating Ehtasm Arif 6-0, 6-0, Kamaran Khan beat Zain Ghafoor 6-2, 6-1, Saif ul Aziz beating Inam Arif 6-1, 6-2, Afham Rana beating Musa Haroon 6-1, 6-2 and Shaeel Durrab beating Kashan Umar 6-2, 4-6, 12-10. In Under-12 first round, Husnain Ali Rizwan beat Hashir Ahmed Alam 4-1, 4-0, Taimoor Khan beat Shahenshah 4-1, 2-4, 4-2, Asad Zaman beat Muneeb Majeed 4-0, 4-0, Harim Rasool beat Talha Tarar 4-2, 4-1, Zerak Mustafa beat Essa Bilal 4-2, 4-1, Ameer Mazari beat Harris Bajwa 4-0, 4-0, Haider Ali Rizwan beat Ismail Aftab 4-0, 4-0 and Umar Jawad beat Raja Mustafa 4-0, 4-0.
In seniors 35 plus, Talha Waheed (Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd), patterning with top seed Aqeel Khan thrashed Rana Humayun and Zohaib Raza 6-0, 6-0, Israr Gul (Police) and Shahid Afridi defeated Hadi Hussain and Haider Ali Khan 6-3, 6-0 and Shehryar Salamat and Ali Asad edged out Asher Ali Khan and Fayyaz Khan 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.
