ISLAMABAD - Davis Cupper Huzaifa Abdul Rehman stunned seventh seed Ahmed Ch in straight sets in the 33rd Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championship men’s singles pre-quarterfinals played here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex on Thursday.
In the first set, Huzaifa was a bit nervous while Ahmed was playing superb tennis as his passing shots, returns and serves were excellent but after shaky start, Huzaifa found momentum and managed to break the 12th serve of Ahmed to take first set 7-5 in 35 minutes. It was all Huzaifa in the second set as his passing shots, powerful serves, backhand winners and drops were absolutely world class and he completely outclassed Ahmed in all departments of the game and won the set 6-0 in just 22 minutes to advance into the quarterfinals, where he will meet Muhammad Mudassar.
Another upset was witnessed when unseeded Barkatullah eliminated fifth seed Yousaf Khalil in the first round. Barkatullah won the well-contested first set 7-6(4) on tiebreak while took the second 6-4, by breaking 10th game of his opponent. He also eliminated Shakirullah in the pre-quarterfinal, winning the encounter 6-2, 6-3.
Top seed Aqeel Khan won his encounter against high-flying Muhammad Shoaib in another close encounter as he won the match 6-4, 6-4. Second seed Muzammil Murtaza eliminated Jibran-ul-Haq in straight sets winning 6-4, 6-4, while other seeded players Muhammad Abid, Shahzad Khan and Heera Ashiq registered straight sets victories. Abid will face Shahzad Khan and Heera Ashiq will take on Muzammil Murtaza in the quarterfinals. In other men’s singles pre-quarterfinals, Mudassar Murtaza beat Ibrahim Omer 6-3, 6-3; Muhammad Abid beat Israr Gul 6-2, 6-2; Shazad Khan beat Imran Bhatti 6-3, 6-3; Heera Ashiq beat Kamran Khan 6-2, 6-0.
In men’s doubles, Shahzad Khan/Muhamamd Abid beat Kamran Khan/M Abdullah 6-2, 6-2, Asad Siyyed/Mudassar Murtaza beat Imran Bhatti/Mian Bilal 6-3, 6-0; Barkatullah/Ahmed Ch beat Asadullah/Ejaz Ahmed Khalil 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 and M Shoaib/Huzaifa Rehman beat Heera Ashiq/Yousaf Khalil 6-3, 6-7(10), 10-8. In seniors 45 doubles, Imran Ahmed/Azeem Khan beat Ahmed Murad/Emadudin 6-1, 6-0 and Waseem/ Sherez got walk over against Wali/Wakeel. The men’s singles quarterfinals will start at 10:00am while the men’s doubles will begin at 2:00pm today.
