Aqeel, Muzammil advance as BB Tennis begins

ISLAMABAD: Two leading local players Aqeel Khan and Muzammil Murtaza progressed to second round at the expense of local players as the Benazir Bhutto (BB) ITF Futures (III) got under way at the Islamabad Tennis Complex Courts Monday.

Pakistan No 1 Aqeel who was given the luxury of wild card beat his countryman Heera Ashiq 6-1, 6-1. Aqeel gave no clue to Heera during his straight set win on the Complex clay court. Another local wildcard holder Muzammil however faced tough resistance from Mohammad Abid before winning 6-2, 7-6 (7). After winning the first set easily, Muzammil and Abid were seen playing identical tennis till the time matter reached 6-6. The match was then decided on tie break which Muzammil won 9-7. Men’s doubles also got under way Monday with M. Abid Ali Akbar (Pak)/Shamael Ch (Gbr) getting better of Abdaal Haider (Pak)/Hamidreza Nadaf (Iri)7-6,6-3 in the first round.

Benazir Bhutto National for juniors also started at the Complex. Ladies event will start Tuesday.

Results: Men’s singles (round of 32): Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) bt M Abid (Pak) 6-2,7-6 (7); Saida’lo Saidkarimov (Uzb) bt Mudassar Murtaza (Pak) 6-3,6-1; Niklus Johanssen (Swe) bt Muhammad Shoaib (Pak) 6-2,6-3; Alexis Canter (Gbr) bt Darko Jandric (Srb) 6-1,6-4; Chandril Sood (Ind) bt Vladimir Polyakov (Rus) 0-6,6-2, 7-5; Lorenzo Bocchi (Ita) bt Ken Onishi (Jpn) 7-6 (5), 6-3; Aqeel Khan (Pak)bt Heera Ashiq (Pak) [Wc]6-1,6-1; Ray Ho (Tpe) bt Anton Chekhov (Rus) 4-6, 6-4,7-5; Hao Yuan Ng (Sgp) bt Filip Fichtel (Ger) 7-6 (7), 6-4.

Men’s doubles (round of 16): M. Abid Ali Akbar (Pak)/Shamael Ch (Gbr) bt Abdaal Haider (Pak)/Hamidreza Nadaf (Iri) 7-6 (5), 6-3; Shahzad Khan (Pak)/Syed Zohair Raza (Pak) bt Moosa Chaudhry (Pak)/Aman Attique (Pak) 6-2, 6-1; Ken Onishi (Jpn)/Rio Noguchi (Jpn) bt Heera Ashiq (Pak)/Malik Abdul Rehman (Pak)6-2, 6-0.

National event results: Boys singles u-18 (1st round): Hamid Israr bt M. Talha Khan 6-2, 6-4; Ahmed Kamil bt Uzair Khan 6-2,6-1; Kashan Umar bt Zain Ch 7-5, 6-0; Nalain Abbas bt Ahmed Nael 6-1, 6-1; Abdulla Adnan bt Subhan Bin Salik 6-2, 6-4; Sami Zeb bt Kamran Khan 6-1, 6-1; Osama Khan bt M. Hadin 6-2, 6-1; Ahmad Asjad bt M. Taha Khan 6-0, 6-2.

Boys singles u-14 (1st round): Azan Shahid bt M. Hadin 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5; Hamza Roman bt Hammad Shah 6-2, 6-2; Mujtaba Tariq w/o Amir Khan; Kashan Umar bt Jamal Shah 6-1, 6-2; Saim Danish bt Yahya Moosa 6-1, 6-1; Talha Khan w/o M. Umar; Azan Sajid w/o Adil Ahmad; Uzair Khan w/o Zaryab Khan; Hamza Asim w/o Huzaima Abdul Rehman; M. Taha Aman bt Hamza Jawad 6-2, 6-1; Ahmed Nael bt Abdullah Azhar 6-0, 6-4; Ali Zain w/o Taimur Ullah; Asim Haziq w/o Muhammad Waqar; Kamran Khan bt Hamid Ullah Yaqub 7-5; 6-3.