Aqeel, Abid storm into Pak Open semis

LAHORE: Top seed Aqeel Khan and M Abid made way to the semifinals of the 3rd EBM Pakistan Open Tennis Championship 2018 after winning their respective quarterfinals played here at the PLTA Courts on Wednesday.

In the first quarterfinal, Aqeel Khan played superb tennis against M Shoaib and never allowed him to play freely and thrashed him by 6-2, 6-1. In other quarterfinal of the day, M Abid outlasted Mudassar Murtaza by 6-4, 6-0, Muzammil Murtaza had to struggle hard to tame spirited Yousaf Khalil by 6-3, 7-5 and Shehzad Khan edged past Heera Ashiq by 6-2, 6-3.

In under-14 quarterfinals, Semi Zeb beat Hassan Ali 4-0, 2-4, 4-1, Uzair Khan edged out Yahya Ehtisham 4-2, 2-4, 4-1, Farman Shakeel defeated Hasheesh Kumar 1-4, 4-2, 4-0 and Hamid Israr thrashed Abdul Hanan Khan 4-0, 4-1.

In under-18 pre-quarterfinals, M Shoaib routed Zalan Khan 6-2, 6-4, Parbat Kumar toppled Izhar Iftikhar 6-1, 6-2, Aqib Hayat beat Hamid Israr 6-4, 6-1, Ahmad Kamil beat Nalain Abbas 6-3, 6-0, Abdullah Adnan trounced M Abdullah 6-2, 6-0, Huzaifa Abdul Rehman outclassed Abdul Hanan Khan 6-0, 6-2 and Saqib Hayat overpowered Faizan Shahid 6-0, 6-1.

In under-12 quarterfinals, Hamza Roman beat Asad 8-2 and Bilal Asim beat Husnain Ali 8-3. In seniors doubles 40 plus semifinals, Talha Waheed/Maj Adnan (Oil and Pakistan) beat Ashar Khan/Fayyaz Khan 6-2, 1-6, 10-7.