Benazir Bhutto Int’l Tennis: Muzammil, Aqeel make exit

ISLAMABAD: Muzammil Murtaza bowed down to stamina and exhaustion, surrendering the match from virtual winning position against sixth seed Pet Goldsteiner (Austria) in the Benazir Bhutto Future III International Tennis at the Islamabad Tennis Complex Tuesday.

Muzammil who was one set up and was leading 3-0 in the second, threw away the advantage as the Austrian won 5-7, 7-5, 6-1. With the help of powerful serve and forehand shots, Pakistani youngster grabbed the first set after breaking Goldsteiner serve and holding on to his own.

Muzammil continued his upsurge with the same vein taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the second when he started losing his breath. He played numerous lose shots from there on to hand over the initiative to Austrian. Goldsteiner never looked back from there on, taking complete control of the proceedings.

After winning the extended second set, Goldsteiner was seen in ruthless form in the third where he gave Muzammil no chance. By the time, the match entered into third set, Muzammil who possibly never have seriously worked on his stamina improvement just threw away the towel losing it 6-1.

“I just play tennis. I hardly run, jog or go to gem to improve my stamina. I think playing tennis is enough,” talented Muzammil who has immense tennis talent but lacks stamina required for professional player, said.

Apart from Ahmad Chaudhary who was seen at his best on the opening day of the event Monday, two other Pakistanis Abid Ali Akbar and Yasir Khan made it to the second round of men’s singles. Yasir defeated raw Canadian Tegbir Singh Hara (Canada) 6-1, 6-3 while Abid got better of his countrymen Heera Ashiq 6-2, 6-1.

Pakistan No 1 Aqeel Khan also made exit from the singles event as he was beaten in straight sets by Germany’s Julian Onken.

In yet another surprise for the local fans, Luka Pavlovic (France) tamed Samir Iftikhar 6-1, 6-3. Samir who earlier had shown quality tennis was never seen standing up to the required challenge. The French played fast and hard tennis with Samir having no answer to powerful forehand and backhand drives.

Results: Men’s singles: Julian Onken (Ger) bt Aqeel Khan 6-2, 6-2; Muhammad Abid Ali Akbar bt Heera Ashiq (Pak) 6-2, 6-1; Ivan Nedelko (Rus) bt Shahzad Khan (Pak) 6-3, 6-2; Luka Pavlovic (Fra) bt Samir Iftikhar 6-1, 6-3; Anton Chekhov (Rus) bt Nikolay Vylegzhanin (RUS) 7-5,7-5; Enrique Lopez-Perez (ESP) bt Vadim Alekseenko (Ukr) 6-0, 7-5; Pet Goldsteiner (Aut) bt Muzzamil Murtaza (Pak) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1; Yasir Khan bt Tegbir Singh Hara (Can) 6-1, 6-3; Kunal Anand (Ind) bt Jayesh Pungliya (Ind) 6-2. 4-6, 6-2.