ISLAMABAD - Top seed Aqeel Khan had to dig deep to beat youngster Malik Abdul Rehman in the second round of the 3rd Chairman POF Board National Ranking Tennis Tournamentp 2018 being played at POF Tennis Courts Wah Cantt.
It was being expected that the match of Aqeel would not be more than a cake-walk but Abdul Rehman matched fire with fire especially in the first set, as Aqeel was clearly looking not only surprised but also a bit amazed with the way, he was given tough fight by his opponent. When it was 4-4, Aqeel utilized his vast experience and managed to break Abdul Rehman’s ninth game to take 5-4 lead and then managed to hold onto his serve to take the first set 6-4 in 35 minutes.
In the second set, Abdul Rehman failed to repeat the same while Aqeel started dictating terms as he broke second and fourth games of Abdul Rehman to comfortably win the set 6-2 in 22 minutes, thus registered a well-fought victory and advanced to the next round.
In the other matches of the day, Muzammil Murtaza beat Huzaifa Abdul Reham 6-4, 6-3, Mudassar Murtaza beat Ahmed Babar 6-1,6-0, M Shoaib beat Saqib Hayat 6-1,6-4, Gibranul Haq beat Subhan bin Salik 6-1,6-2, Abid Ali Akbar beat Heera Ashiq 6-4,6-4 and M Abid beat Ahmed Ch 6-2,7-6 (2).
In the men’s doubles, Saqib Hayat/Nauman Aftab beat Kashanul Haq/Gibranul Haq 7-5, 6-2, Amjad Ishaq/Major Mazhar beat Shakirullah/Musa Ch 7-6(4),5-7,10-5, Heera Ashiq/Malik A Rehman w/o Qasim Ali/Zeeshan Malik, Yousah Khalil/Asadullah beat Ahmed Asjad/Ahmed Babar 6-3, 3-6,10-5 and M Shoaib/Huzaifa A Rehman beat Abdaal Haider/Ahmed Ch 6-3, 2-6,10-7.
In boys’ U-18 second round, M Shoaib beat Kashan Umar 6-3, 6-4; Huzaifa A Rehman beat Hamid Israr 6-0, 6-0, Nauman Aftab beat Ahtisham Humayun 6-0, 6-0, Parbat Kumar beat Musa Ch 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, Ahmad Asjad beat M Abdullah 6-0, 6-4, Hassam Khan beat Zaid Nasir 6-4, 6-1, Aqib Hayat beat Uzair Khan 6-0, 6-1, Saqib Hayat beat Sami Zeb 6-1, 6-2.
In boys’ U-14 second round, Sami Zeb beat Shahsawar Khan 4-1, 4-2, M Talha Khan beat Hamza Roman 5-3, 4-2, Uzair Khan beat Huzaima A Rehman 4-2,2-4,5-4(3), Hasheesh Kumar beat Ahtesham Humayun 4-0, 4-0, Kashan Umar beat Yahya Musa Luni 4-0, 4-0, Hamid Israr beat M Zubair 4-0,4-0.
In boys’/girls’ U-10 second round, Hamza Roman w/o Abdul Basit, Hammad Shah beat Abdullah Amjad 4-1,4-0, M Haziq beat Abdur Rehman 4-0,4-2, Taimur beat M Zubair 4-1, 4-1, Zainab Ali beat Hassan Usmani 5-3, 4-2 and Jamal Shah beat Esha Zubair 4-2, 4-0.