LAHORE - Asad Zaman upset top seed Faizan Fayyaz 6-7, 6-3, 10-3 in the U-18 semifinals to set final clash against Bilal Asim in the Sapphire Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2021 here at the Punjab Tennis Academy Bagh-e-Jinnah on Thursday.
Both Asad and Faizan were off to flying start and matched fire with fire before locking the score at 6-6. Faizan then showed his experience and managed to score more to win the first set 7-6. Asad then bounced back in great style and took the second set 6-3. In the tie-breaker, Asad once again held his nerves and took it 10-3 to book berth in the final, where he will face Bilal’s challenge.
Talking to The Nation, Asad said: “I have been training hard under the able coaching of renowned coach Rashid Malik (ZTBL), who is guiding and training me well and transforming me into a true champion. I am looking forward to win more national titles with ultimate aim of representing my country at international level and win ITF events for Pakistan.” He also thanked McDonald’s for their all-out support.
In the second U-18 semifinal, Bilal Asim played well against promising Abdul Hanan Khan as he overwhelmed his opponent with a score of 6-1, 6-3. The U-18 doubles quarterfinals saw the pair of Hassan Ali and Asad Zaman trouncing the duo of Zaeem Ghafoor and Hamza Jawad 6-0 while the pair of Ahtesham Arif and Abdul Hanan Khan outpaced the duo of Zain Saeed and Muneeb Majeed 6-2.
In U-14 semifinals, Asad Zaman and Ahtesham Humayun booked berths in the final after winning their respective semifinals. In the first semifinal, Asad Zaman routed Omer Jawad 6-3, 6-4 while Ahtesham Humayun defeated Shehryar Anees 6-2, 7-5. In U-14 doubles quarterfinals, Shehryar Anees/Ahtesham Humayun thrashed M Ramzan/M Ali 6-0, Omer Jawad/Ismail Aftab defeated Zain Saeed/Abdur Rehman 6-3 and Raja Mustafa/Harris Bajwa beat Hajra/Aalay Husnain 6-4.
In the U-10 quarterfinals, Fajar Fayyaz defeated Afaf Suleman 8-6 while in the U-12 semifinals, Omer Jawad outlasted Hashir Alam 8-2 and Ismail Aftab beat Abdur Rehman 8-4. All the finals of the Sapphire Punjab Junior Tennis Championship 2021 will be played on Thursday at 5:00 pm.