BENAZIR BHUTTO ITF FUTURES: Aqeel, Muzammil cruise into second round

ISLAMABAD: Top two local players Aqeel Khan and Muzammil Murtaza progressed to the second round at the expense of local players as the Benazir Bhutto ITF Futures Tennis Championship got under way at the Islamabad Tennis Complex Courts here Monday.

Pakistan No 1 Aqeel, who was given the luxury of wildcard, beat his countryman Heera Ashiq 6-1, 6-1. Aqeel gave no clue to Heera during his straight sets win on the 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 a tiebreak, which Muzammil won 9-7.

Men’s doubles matches also got under way on Monday with Abid Ali Akbar (Pak) & Shamael Chaudhry (Britain) getting the better of Abdaal Haider (Pak) & Hamidreza Nadaf (Iran) 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the first round.

Benazir Bhutto National for juniors also started at the complex. Ladies’ event will start today (Tuesday).

Results: Men’s singles round of 32: Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) bt Muhammad 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) 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: Abid Ali Akbar (Pak) & Shamael Chaudhry (Gbr) bt Abdaal Haider (Pak) & Hamidreza Nadaf (Iri) 7-6 (5), 6-3; Shehzad 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.

Benazir Bhutto National for Juniors: Boys’ Under-18 singles 1st round: Hamid Israr bt Talha Khan 6-2, 6-4; Ahmed Kamil bt Uzair Khan 6-2, 6-1; Kashan Umar bt Zain Chaudhry 7-5, 6-0; Nalain Abbas bt Ahmed Nael 6-1, 6-1; Abdullah Adnan bt Subhan Bin Salik 6-2,6-4; Sami Zeb bt Kamran Khan 6-1, 6-1; Osama Khan bt Muhammad Hadin 6-2, 6-1; Ahmed Asjad bt Taha Khan 6-0, 6-2.

Boys’ Under-14 singles 1st round: Azan Shahid bt Muhammad 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 Muhammad Umar; Azan Sajid w/o Adil Ahmad; Uzair Khan w/o Zaryab Khan; Hamza Asim w/o Huzaima Abdul Rehman; 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.