Aqeel’s domination continues in HTR Tennis

LAHORE: National number One Aqeel Khan dominated the 4th day of Hassan Tariq Rahim (HTR) Masters Cup (Invitational) Tennis Tournament by winning his singles and doubles match with little trouble here at Lahore Gymkhana Courts on Wednesday.

Aqeel started the day with a straight set rather and easy win in the men’s singles and later pairing up with the country’s tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi, the two annexed the doubles win.

Besides, Ahmed Chaudhary, Muzammil Murtaza and M Abid were the winners of the singles matches while Sara Mansoor, Ushna Suhail and Sara Mahboob claimed their ladies singles matches in one-sided affair. Earlier in the day, M Shoaib, M Nauman Aftab and Abdullah Adnan were the winners of the under-18 boys matches. In the other doubles matches played during the day, Heera Ashiq and Abdul Haider stepped into the next round.

Aqeel took about 20 minutes to undo the toothless fight posed by M Abid Ali Akbar. His straight sets win ended with a score of 6-1 and 6-1. Ahmed Chaudhary had to fight for his singles match win against Heera Ashiq. After a 6-4 first set win, Ahmed had to win a tie-breaker second set 7-5 when Heera got to his nerves.

Muzammil Murtaza had a walk over against Shamael Chaudhary who did not appear in the court for the match. In the last singles match of the day, M Abid after some tough fight from M Shoaib won the match 6-4 and 6-1. The ladies singles matches saw Sara Mansoor beat Mehak Khokhar in straight sets. Pakistan’s number one Ushna Suhail dominated in her match against Noor Malik, daughter of former Davis Cupper Rasheed Malik, Noor could only had two points in her match as Ushna won 6-2 and 6-0.

In the third singles match, Sara Mahboob Khan defeated Shunza Naz Durab 6-1 and 6-1. The star pair of Aisam and Aqeel toyed with the pair of Muzammil Murtaza and Mudassir Murtaza. The only achievement for the losing pair was that they somehow won five points against the country’s stars. However, the experience and superiority of Asiam and Aqeel ended in 6-3 and 6-2 win.

The second doubles match had Heera Ashiq and Abdul Haider winning the match in almost the same fashion Asiam and Aqeel got with score being 6-3 and 6-1. In the boys under-18 encounters, M Shoaib beat Ahmed Kamil 6-0 and 6-3, Nauman Aftab beat Shehryar Ahmed 6-2 and 6-0 and Abdullah Adnan beat Taimur Saleem 6-4 and 6-3.