Pak players crash out of ITF Futures F-3

KARACHI: All Pakistani players crashed out of the $15,000 ITF Futures Championships F-3 at the Islamabad Tennis Courts (ITC) in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Aqeel Khan lost to second seed Rio Noguchi from Japan 4-6, 2-6 in the pre-quarter-finals of men’s singles category.

Similarly, Muzammil Murtaza was beaten by sixth seed Alexis Canter from Great Britain 4-6, 0-6 and wildcard Abid Ali Akbar was defeated by Ray Ho from Taipei 2-6, 1-6.

In other matches, fourth seed Lorenzo Bocchi from Italy won against Alexander Pavlioutchenkov from Russia 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Shamael Chaudhry from Great Britain stunned fifth seed Niklas Johansson from Sweden 6-3, 6-2 and Saida’lo Saidkarimov from Uzbekistan thrashed Worovin Kumthonkittikul from Thailand 1-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Third seed Kai Wehnhelt from Germany smashed Chandril Sood from India 6-1, 6-2 and seventh seed Hamidreza Nadaf from Iran defeated Hao Yuan Ng from Singapore 6-1, 6-2.

In the quarter-finals of doubles category, the top-seeded pair of Anton Chekhov from Russia and Kai Wehnelt from Germany beat the Pakistani duo of Aqeel Khan and Muzammil Murtaza 6-2, 6-4.

The third-seeded Taipei pair of Ti Chen and Ray Ho thrashed the duo of Ahmed Choudhary from Pakistan and Hao Yuan Ng from Singapore 6-0, 6-0.

The second-seeded Russian pair of Alexander Pavlioutchenkov and Vladimir Polyakov smashed the Pakistani duo of Shahzad Khan and Syed Zohair Raza 6-3, 6-1.

The fourth-seeded Japanese pair of Ken Onishi and Noguchi won against the duo of Shamael Chaudhry from Great Britain and Abid Ali Akbar from Pakistan 6-3, 6-2.