HTR Tennis: Ushna, Mehaq excel among ladies: Aisam, Aqeel emerge men’s doubles champs

LAHORE: The top seeded players of the country and the Davis Cup champion pair of Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan Friday win the doubles title of 4th Hassan Tariq Rahim (HTR) Masters Cup Invitational Tennis Tournament here at Lahore Gymkhana Courts.

Pakistan’s number one tennis partners handed the lowly-rated pair of Abdul Haider and Heera Ashiq their one of the worst defeats. The seeded pair defeated the Haider-Heera pair in straight sets 6-2 and 6-0. Heera and Haider just yesterday upset the second seeded pair of Shahzad Khan and Ahmed Chaudhry. In the men’s singles, two matches were played on the day with winning coming for Ahmed Chaudhry and Shamael Chaudhry. In the first match a little fight was witness between Ahmed and Mudassir Murtaza but the former tamed his opponent rather intelligently. Every time Mudassir bounced back in the game, Ahmed overpowered him and in the end won the match 6-3 and 6-4.

In the second singles match, Shamael Chaudhry too had to fight at occasions against Yousaf Khalil. Shamael maintained his grip in the match despite some good serves from Yousaf. However, the win was Shamael’s fate as he claimed 6-3 and 6-2 conclusion.

In the ladies singles, national number one Ushna Suhail and Mehaq Khokhar took some time to settle on the court and once they were in their game they were the winners. Ushna Suhail on her part beat fighting Sara Mahboob 6-3 and 6-3 and Mehaq Khokhar in her encounter overcame Nida Akram 6-2 and 6-1.

In the under-18 boys singles, Ahmed Kamil and M Shoaib took their matches in contracting fashion. Ahmed Kamil was made to fight for every point in his match against Ahmed Asjad Qureshi. Kamil having lost the opening set 2-6 returned into the game by winning the next two sets with the final score being 2-6, 6-4 and 6-1.

In the second match of this age group, M Shoaib ultimately prevailed over Nauman Aftab. Shoaib though won the match 6-4 and 6-4 but still he had to get involved in long rallies against his rival.