LAHORE           -         Aqeel Khan, Mudasir Murtaza, Muzammil Murtaza and M Abid moved into the men’s singles semifinals of the Nayza All Pakistan Open Tennis Championship 2019 after winning their quarterfinals against their respective opponents here at PLTA Courts on Tuesday.

On day three of the championship, Aqeel maintained his dominance by overpowering Barkatullah with a margin of 6-0, 6-1 while Mudassir Murtaza outpaced veteran Shahzad Khan 6-4, 6-3, Muzammil Murtaza had to struggle hard to beat Ahmed Ch 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and M Abid faced tough resistance from seasoned campaigner Heera Ashiq before winning the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The ladies singles quarterfinals proved to be one-sided affairs as all the top seeds won their respective matches comfortably. Pakistan first and only world ranked player Ushna Suhail crushed Zunaira Tariq 6-0, 6-0, another top player Sara Mansoor also registered thrashing victory over Bakhtawar 6-0, 6-0, Esha Jawad proved too hot for Zara Salman routing her 6-0, 6-0 while Marrium Mirza outclassed Marrium Shahid 6-0, 6-0.

In U-18 boys quarterfinals, Aseesh Kumar trounced Kamaran 6-0, 6-1, Faizan Fayyaz beat Afham Rana 4-6, 6-2, 11-9, Parbat Kumar edged out Abdul Hanan Khan 4-6, 7-5, 10-1 and Nalain Abbas defeated Mahateer Mohammad 5-7, 7-6, 10-5. In U-14 boys quarterfinals, Hamid Israr beat Kashan Umer 5-3, 5-4, Mahateer Mohammad beat Haider Ali Rizwan 4-1, 4-1, Bilal Asim beat Yahya Musa 4-0, 4-0 and Aziz Khan beat Huzaima Abdul Rehman 4-0, 5-3.

In 35 plus doubles, Aqeel Khan and Talha Waheed (Gas and Oil Pakistan Ltd) qualified for the final after getting bye against their respective opponents. In 45 plus doubles, Rashid Malik (ZTBL) and Fayyaz Khan beat Rana Nadeem and Tahir Butt 6-0, 6-1 and they will now take on Israr Gull (Police) and Ashir Ali Khan, who got walk over against Hassan Saeed and Col Faisal in the semifinals.