Shoaib, Aqeel reach quarters at Fed Cup

ISLAMABAD: Top-seeded M Shoaib, Aqeel Khan, Yousaf Khalil, Barkatullah, Muzammil Murtaza, Ahmad Nael Qureshi, Sami Zeb Khan, and M. Talha Khan reached the quarterfinals of the 37th OGDCL Federal Cup national ranking tennis championship at PTF Tennis Complex on Tuesday.

Fourth seed Yousaf Khalil faced a stiff challenge in his pre-quarterfinal match against wildcard entrant Ahmad Chaudhary. The opening set went down to the wire and was decided in a tiebreaker, which Khalil edged 7-5. Ahmad continued to fight hard in the second set but couldn’t maintain the same intensity, eventually falling 6-4. In another pre-quarterfinal, M. Talha Khan overcame local talent M. Haziq Aasim in a three-set battle. After losing the first set 3-6, Talha bounced back strongly to take the next two sets 6-1, 6-2.

In the Junior 18 & Under Singles, fifth seed Haziq Arejo rallied from a set down to beat local player Abdaar Ali in a thrilling three-set match. After losing the first set in a tiebreak 6-7(5), Arejo regrouped to claim the next two sets 6-2, 6-0.

In the quarterfinals of men’s doubles, Abdullah Adnan and Saifullah Khan won against M. Talha Khan and M. Huzaifa Khan 7-5, 4-6, 10-6. Similarly, Ahmad Nael Qureshi and Saqib Hayat overpowered M. Hazik Aasim and M Yahya 7-6(3), 6-3.

In the pre-quarterfinals of boys 14&Under singles, Junaid Khan got walkover against Zalan Khan, Ibrahim Gill beat Behroze Wander 4-0, 4-1, Razik Sultan defeated Mauz Hussain 4-0, 4-0, Janas Waqas thrashed M. Suhaib Javed 4-0, 4-0, M Faizan got walkover against M. Zohaib Amjad, Rashid Ali smashed M. Shakaib 4-0, 4-0, Rayaan Khalil beat M Danyal 4-0, 4-0, and Shayaan Afridi beat Mahd Mahmood 4-0, 4-1.