ITF PAKISTAN JUNIOR TENNIS: Huzaifa captures crown with commanding show

ISLAMABAD: Huzaifa Abdul Rehman has emerged as a new hope for the country’s tennis following his thumping straight-set win over Bader Alabdullah of Kuwait in the Syed Tajammul Abbas ITF Pakistan Junior Tennis Championships at the PTF Complex on Saturday.

Huzaifa broke an almost five-year title jinx for the country at the junior level as he defeated Alabdullah 6-1, 6-2 in the boys’ singles final. The Pakistani completely dominated the final with some sizzling powerful forehand and backhand shots.

Huzaifa was so dominant in the first set that he raced to a 4-0 lead with Alabdullah just managing to break the Pakistani’s serve once while losing all of his own.

The same trend followed in the second set that saw the young 16-year-old Huzaifa in full flow — he again went 4-0 ahead. Alabdullah managed to pull two games back to make the scores 4-2 before Huzaifa struck back to take the next two and the title.

“My ranking that is around 500 at the moment will see a marked improvement with this victory which is the first of my career,” the lean-looking Huzaifa said.

He thanked Almighty Allah for becoming the first Pakistani after Muzammil Murtaza to win an ITF junior title.

“I have worked hard for this and have been consistently training for years. My opponent Alabdullah was an experienced campaigner but I succeeded in keeping him in check.

“My shots were on target and so was my anticipation of the ball,” the youngster said.

Huzaifa now plans to play two ITF junior events in Qatar next month. “I know the more I play against top juniors the better I will become.”

Pakistan Tennis Federation President Salim Saifullah Khan, Patron Syed Dilawar Abbas, Director General of the Army Sports Directorate Brigadier Zaheer Akhtar and Islamabad Tennis Association President Tariq Murtaza were present at the prize distribution ceremony.

Salim Saifullah Khan congratulated the winners and wished the foreign players the best of luck.

“Islamabad is one of the safest capitals of the world and I hope that those who were here for the event will take good memories with them. They will be welcomed again for the tournaments we are planning to host in September-October this year,” he said.

Aysegul Mert of Turkey won the girls’ singles title when she defeated Arina Valitova of Russia 6-3, 6-1 in the final.