LAHORE - Arch-rival pairs of Talha/Usama and Ashar/Fayyaz advanced to the next round of the Lt Gen Farrukh Khan Memorial Punjab Open Tennis Championship 2019 senior 35 plus doubles after beating their respective opponents here at the PLTA courts on Monday.
The match of the day was played between Talha Waheed (Gas and Oil)/Usama and Haider/Hadi, which proved to be a enthralling encounter as the winning pair was duly lauded by the spectators for their tremendous match performance, enabling them to register a well-deserving victory. Talha/Usama though won the first set with utmost ease by 6-1, but their opponents bounced back well and outpaced them by 6-4. The third and decisive set proved to be a nail-biting one, as players of both sides were fighting for each and every point and wasn’t ready to give up. In the end, Talha/Usama prevailed and tamed the spirited opponents by 14-12 to register victory.
Another pair of Ashar/Fayyaz, who won the last senior doubles title, outclassed Rana Nadim/Dr Saeed by 6-1, 6-2 to breeze into the next round. In other matches of the senior 35 plus doubles, Mehboob/Adeel tamed Khalid/Col Mouzam 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 and Yousaf/Nouman beat Hassan Said/Humayun 6-7, 6-1, 10-8.
In men’s singles, Ahmad Kamil beat Sikandar Hayat 6-4, 6-2, Main Bilal beat Zaryab Pir Zada 6-0, 6-2 and Zeshan Ashraf beat Abbas Malik 6-3, 6-3 and moved into the next round. In U-16, Nalain Abbas overpowered Bilal Asim 6-4, 6-2 and Hassan Ali routed Arham Khan 6-3, 6-2.