Abid, Ushna clinch: Pakistan Open tennis titles

LAHORE: M Abid and Ushna Suhail (ZTBL) clinched the 3rd EBM Pakistan Open Tennis Championship 2018 men’s and ladies singles titles here at the PLTA Tennis Courts on Saturday.

EBM Director Shahzaib Munir was the chief guest graced of the concluding ceremony while PLTA Chairman Rao Iftikhar, Secretary Rashid Malik, Finance Secretary Rai Zahid Zafar, players and their families and a great number of tennis lovers were also present on the occasion.

In the closely-contested men’s singles final, Abid stunned top seed Aqeel Khan 7-6, 7-6. Both the players remained busy in long rallies and powerful shots throughout the game. In the first set, the score was tied at 6-6 and it was being expected that Aqeel would use his vast experience to win it comfortably but Abid had other plans. He played some powerful shots to win the first set 7-6. The second set was identical to the first one, where the score was once again tied at 6-6 and this time too, Abid prevailed in the end to take it 7-6, thus registered an epic title victory. In the ladies singles final, Ushna was in sublime form and played superb tennis with great authority to outclass Sara Mansoor by 6-2, 6-3. Ushna was off to flying start as she put Sara under tremendous pressure to take the first game 6-2. Sara fought comparatively well in the second set as the score was tied at 3-3. Ushna, who is the only world ranking female player of the country, once again showed her class and utilized her international experience to win the next three points in a row to take the set, thus registered a title triumph.

The Under-18 title was won by Mohammad Shoaib, who beat Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 7-5,7-6, the Under-10 title went to Hamza Roman, who outpaced Abu Bakar Talha (Wapda) 8-1 while the seniors doubles 40 plus title was clinched by the pair of Maj Adnan/Talha Waheed (gas & oil Pakistan), who defeated Israr Gul/Jehanzeb Khan 6-2, 7-5.