Aqeel crowned Federal Cup Tennis champ

ISLAMABAD: Abid Ali Akbar proved piece of cake for top seed Aqeel Khan during his straight-set men’s single title win in the 32nd Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championships at the DA PTF Complex court Friday.

Aqeel put to the rest all expectations of high voltage final breezing his way to an easy 6-2, 6-1 win against raw Abid.Top seed was too consistent in his approach, allowing Abid to commit mistakes which he did regularly.

Abid who recently returned from USA following coaching stint happened to be too raw when it comes to striking a killing punch.“Things went according to plan. I succeeded in playing according to my stronger points,” Aqeel said.

When asked as how many domestic titles he had won so far, Aqeel said numbers are countless. “I think the titles would be around 90 to 95 in the ranking events.”Whatever the numbers of titles the 39-year old has won is immaterial against the quality he had shown on the domestic circuit during the last 19 years.

In a final against Abid, Aqeel broke his 3rd, 5th and 7th game to take the opening set. Abid had no less than one opportunity to break back but was unable to take the decisive points allowing Aqeel bounce back in the game.

Pakistan No 1 kept the same pressure in the second set and built up 3-0 lead by breaking 1st and 3rdgame of Abid Ali Akber to win the second at 6-2. The match lasted 1 hr 14 minutes.

Top Seed Sara Mansoor won the ladies singles title edging out Sarah Mahboob in a well contested three-set match 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.The match lasted 2 hours 30 minutes. This is the second consecutive national title of Sara Mansoor.

Muhammad Shoaib took the title of boys under-18 beating Abdullah Adnan in a one-sided affair 6-3, 6-0.Uzair Khan claimed boys under-14 event winning final against Hamid Israr 1-6, 5-1 (Retd.) Hamid Israr due to the back injury conceded the match at the score of 5-1 in the second set. Hamza Roman won the title of Boys under-10 beating Ali Zain from Wah with score of 4-0, 4-0.