Pak players fail to impress in Kulsum Int’l Tennis

ISLAMABAD: All local players made exit from the men’s singles of the Begum Kulsum ITF Futures Tennis Tournament following second round defeats at the hands of foreign players at the PTF Complex clay courts Thursday.

Pakistan main hope Aqeel Khan and Samir Iftikhar lost in straight sets. Though Aqeel showed some resilience, he was defeated by the top seed Ivan Nedelko. The Russian was as usual at his beat beating Pakistan top player 6-2, 7-6 (1) to make it into the quarter-finals. Aqeel fought back after losing the first set rather easily. Pakistan No 1 was seen stretching the No 1 seed Russian to tie break in the second. The fast pace serve by the Russian then played the decisive role. Samir who was the only local player making it to the quarter-finals during the Serena Open Future I lost to former world No 65, Pere Riba (Esp) in the second round this time. Riba won 6-4, 6-2. Samir had his moments in the first set but was unable to maintain the tempo, ultimately losing in straight sets. The Spaniard was all over Samir in the second where Pakistani made one after another mistake. His two double faults at 5-2 was enough to give Riba the match. Three Russian, two Spaniard, one each player from Germany, France and Austria made it to the quarter-finals which would be played Friday.

Second round results: Men’s singles: Ivan Nedelko (Rus) [1] bt Aqeel Khan (Pak) 6-2 7-6(1); Julian Onken (Ger) bt [6] Muhammad Abid (Pak) 6-0 6-1; Pere Riba (Esp) [4] bt Samir Iftikhar (Pak) 6-4, 6-2; Luka Pavlovic (Fra) bt Anurag Nenwani (Ind) 6-4, 6-2; Shalva Dzhanashiya (Rus) [5] bt Kunal Anand (Ind) 6-4, 6-2; Peter Goldsteiner (Aut) [7] bt Dmitry Myagkov (Rus) 7-5, 7-5; Enrique Lopez-Perez (Esp) [2] bt Ergi Kirkin (Tur) 7-5, 6-3; Kristian Kristian Lozan (Rus) [3] bt Kelsey Stevenson 5-7, 6-0, 6-0;

Men’s doubles: Ergi Kirkin (Tur)/Nikolay Vyleghanin (Rus) bt Aman Attique (Pak)/Yousaf Khalil (Pak) 6-1, 6-0; Anurag Nenwani (IND)/Jayesh Pungliya (IND) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa (IND)/ Ajay Pruthvi Nemkal (IND) 7-5, 7-5; Kunal Anand (IND)/Jatin Dahiya (IND) bt Gleb Alekseenko (UKR)/Vadim Alekseenko (UKR) 7-5, 1-6, 10-7; Shalva Dzhanashiya (RUS)/Ivan Nedelko (RUS) bt Yasir Khan(PAK)/Waqas Malik (CAN) 6-2, 6-3; Alexander Lebedyn (UKR)/Anton Chekhov (RUS) bt Muzammil Murtaza (PAK)/Luka Pavlovic (FRA) 5-7, 6-2, 10-8.