ISLAMABAD: Up and coming Mohammad Shoaib Khan stunned 3rd seed and experienced Shahzad Khan in straights sets to make it to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles in the 5th Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan National Ranking Tennis Tournament here at the PTF Complex on Thursday.
Shoaib won 6-4, 6-4 after breaking Shahzad once in each of the set. The win earned him applause from the sizeable gathering. “I am working hard at the National Training Centre (NTC). Results here are very much the outcome of efforts I have put in during training sessions,” Shoaib said after upsetting his much senior Davis Cup player.
Shoaib will now meet Heera Ashiq in the quarter-finals. “I hope to continue with the same vein in matches to come and hopefully would win my match Friday,” he said. In yet another upset in the men’s singles, Barkatullah tamed seventh seed Ahmed Chudhary in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Results: Men’s singles 2nd round: Mudassir Murtaza bt Nalian Abbas 6-0, 6-1; Yousaf Khalil bt Shahid Afridi 6-2, 6-2; Muzammil Murtaza bt Imran Bhatti 6-2, 6-2; Aqeel Khan bt Ejaz Khan 6-4, 6-4; M Abid bt Ahmed Baber 6-4, 6-4; Heera Ashiq bt Mian Bilal 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; Mohammad Shoaib bt Shahzad Khan 6-4, 6-4; Barkatullah bt Ahmed Chudhary 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Men’s doubles: Mian Bilal & Imran Bhatti bt Ibrahim Omer & Ahmed Kamil 6-2, 7-5; Heera Ashique & Yousaf Khalil bt Shahzad Khan & Usman Ejaz 6-2, 6-4; Abbas Khan & Shakir Ullah w/o Shaheen Mehmood & Shahid Afridi.
Ladies singles 1st round: Mahin Aftab bt Krisztina Jekel 6-0, 6-0; Noor Malik bt Sheeza Sajid 6-0, 6-0; Meheq Khokhar bt Adila Miron 6-0, 6-0; Mahvish Chistie bt Azeena Aleem 6-0, 6-0; Mariam Mirza bt Sabina Ahmed 6-1, 6-1; Saher Aleem bt Mahnoor Sohail 6-2, 6-0.
Ladies singles quarter-finals: Mahin Aftab bt Meheq Khokhar 6-1, 6-1; Sarah Mahboob bt Saher Aleem 6-0, 6-0; Noor Malik bt Mariam Mirza 6-2, 6-0.
Boys 18 and under (2nd round): Aqib Hayat bt Sami Zeb 7-5, 6-4, Hasheesh Kumar bt Kashan Umar 6-1, 6-0; M Shoaib bt Hisam Khan 6-0, 6-4; Subhan bin Salik bt Jabir Ali:6-0, 6-2; Mahatir Muhammad bt Kamran Khan 6-3, 4-6; 1-0(retd), M Hamza Aasim bt Fayzan Fayyaz 6-4, 6-2; Nalian Abbas bt Faizan Shahid 6-2, 6-1.
Boys’ under-14 (2nd round): Bilal Asim bt Eesa Bilal 4-0, 4-0; Hussnain Ali Rizwan bt Faisal Khalil 4-0, 4-1; Shahswar bt Ahmed Nail 4-0, 3-5, 4-2; Asad Zaman bt Mustansar Ali 4-0, 4-0; Haider Ali Rizwan bt Inam Qadir 4-0, 4-0; Saim Shahzad w/o Afzal Khan.
Boys/girls U-12 (second round): Taimoor Khan bt Hammad Shah 0-4, 5-3, 4-; Ahtesham Hamayun bt Eesa Bilal 4-0, 4-0.