Abid upsets Serbian Igor in BB Tennis Championship

ISLAMABAD: Wild card holder Abid Ali Akbar (Pak) surprised Serbian Igor Banecivec in a marathon three-set match to move into the second round of the men’s singles event of the Benazir Bhutto (BB) Shaheed ITF Futures C’ships at the ITC Tuesday.Abid won 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in a match that lasted almost three hours. The Serbian player got off to encouraging start with a victory in the extended first set.

The second set, however, turned out to be easy one for Abid who broke his opponent serve once to settle the matter. It was third set that went down to the wire with Banecivec making full use of his reach to take the matter into tie break. Abid who has shown improvement in recent past however was quick to grab the opportunity winning it with ease. “It was a tough day for me on the court and match against Serbian went to full distance. I held on to my nerves on crucial time to win the day and earned a place into second round,” Abid. He would now join Aqeel Khan and Muzammil Murtaza as the third local making it to the second round of the event. All other matches in the men’s singles, however, proved ne-sided with winners making it to the next round with ease.

In doubles the pair of Aqeel Khan (Pak)/Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) much experienced international duo of Joe Cooper (GBR)/Matt Seeberger (USA) in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. Ushana Suhail and Sarah Mahboob won their matches easily in ladies and juniors singles national event. Ushna Suhail beat Sheeza Sajid 6-0, 6-0 while Sara Mahboob breezed past Mehek Khokhar 6-0, 6-1.

Results: Men’s singles (round of 32): Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS) bt Ahmed Ch (Pak) 6-3, 7-6; Shamael Ch (Gbr) bt Dmitry Myagkov (Rus) 6-3, 6-3; Kumthonkittikul Worovin (Tha) bt M. Nauman Aftab (Pak)6-3, 6-1; M Abid Ali Akbar (Pak) bt Igor Banecivec 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (2); Kai Wehnhelt (Ger) bt Jackson Varney (Aus) 6-4, 6-1; Hamidreza Nadaf (Iri) bt Lakshit Sood (Ind) 6-1, 6-2; Rio Noguchi (Jpn) bt Kento Tagashira (Jpn) 6-0, 7-5.

Men’s doubles (round of 16): Anton Chekhov (RUS)/Kai Wehnelt (GER) bt Lakshit Sood (IND)/Chandril Sood (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Ti Chen (TPE)/Ray Ho (TPE) bt Dmitry Myagkov (RUS)/Saidkarimov, Saida’lo (UZB) 6-2, (5) 6-7, 12-10; Aqeel Khan (Pak)/Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) bt Joe Cooper (GBR)/Matt Seeberger (USA) 6-3, 6-4; Alexander Pavlioutchenkov (RUS)/Vladimir Polyakov (RUS) bt Lorenzo Bocchi (ITA)/Darko Jandric (SRB) 7-6, 2-6, 10-8; Ahmed Ch (Pak)/Hao Yuan NG (SGP) bt M Abid (Pak)/M. Wagas Malik (CAN)6-4, 6-4.

Ladies singles: Ushna Suhail bt Sheeza Sajid 6-0, 6-0; Sara Mahboob bt Mehek Khokhar 6-0, 6-1; Esha Jawad bt Fatima Ali Raja 6-1, 6-1; Bakhtawar Haider bt Mahrukh Farooque 6-1, 6-2; Mahvish Chishtie bt Adela Miron 6-0, 6-1; Khunsha Baber bt Mahnoor Suhail 6-0, 6-0; Hania Navid bt Shimza Naz 6-3, 6-3;

Boys singles u-18 (1st round): Rayan Jawad bt Muhammad Bin Mufasir 6-0, 6-4; Sikandar Amin w/o Shahzad Khan; Faizan Shahid w/o Hammadullah; Saim Danish bt Hamza Jawad 6-3, 0-6, 6-1; Azan Sajid bt Hasan Bin Mufasir 7-5, 2-6, 6-3; Musa Ch w/o M. Omar.

Boys singles u-14 (2nd round): M. Taha Aman bt Azan Shahid 6-1, 6-1; Hamza Roman w/o Asim Haziq; Kashan Umar bt Mujtaba Tariq 6-0, 6-2; Sami Zeb bt Saim Danish 6-2, 6-4; Hamid Israr bt Kamran Khan 6-2, 6-1; Talha Khan bt Hamza Asim 6-1, 6-0; Uzair Khan bt Azan Sajid 6-0, 6-0; Ahmed Nael bt Ali Zain 6-0, 6-2.