Muzammil wins singles title in Benazir Bhutto tennis

ISLAMABAD: Muzammil Murtaza halted Mohammad Shoaib’s progress with a three-set victory in the final of the Benazir Bhutto National Ranking Tennis here at the ICT Courts Sunday.

In an exciting, quality men’s final witnessed by a packed crowd, Muzammil won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to lift the title and a handsome amount of over a hundred thousand rupees as a winner’s cheque. Both the finalists kept on breaking each other’s serve in the first set that saw Muzammil playing rather forceful tennis against a more calculated one by his opponent. Some exciting forceful tennis exhibited by Muzammil upset Shoaib who struggled to find the touch that was there against Aqeel Khan in the semi-finals.

Aqeel who was missing the final showdown of any national ranking event during the last two decades was in the spectators’ box as Shoaib made an excellent recovery in the second where he broke Muzammil once to take the match into the third set.

However, Muzammil continued his aggressive style, storming at the nets occasionally and making an all-out effort to pin down his opponent in the third which saw him unleashing some forceful down-the-line shots and also making cross-court sizzler when it was required.

“I knew well that I have to play forceful tennis to put the youngster under pressure. I succeeded in my efforts as my opponent was facing difficulties in making an apt response to the aggressive style of play,” Muzammil said.

Young Shoaib rued missed opportunities saying he was all set to beat his opponent but made too many mistakes in the third.

“Once I won the second, I knew I had an upper hand. Too many mistakes however robbed me of the title,” Shoaib said.

Earlier, in the women singles final, Ushna Sohail easily prevailed over struggling Sarah Mehboob 6-3, 6-1. Sarah was never seen at her best and lost both sets rather easily. Sarah looked a shadow of her last ranking event outing where she defeated Ushna in three sets. Here however it was a cakewalk for Ushna on her way to winning the women’s title.

Senator Farahatullah Babar distributed prizes among the winners and runners-up position holders. He congratulated Senator Taj Haider and Fazale Subhan (ITC) for hosting BB Tennis in a befitting manner.

Results: Men’s singles final: Muzzamil Murtaza bt Mohammed Shoaib 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Ladies’ singles: Ushna Sohail bt Sara Mehboob 6-3, 6-1.

Boys’ Under-18 final: Abdullah Adnan bt Hamid Israr 6-3, 6-4.

Boys’ Under-14 final: Mohammed Salaar bt Ibrahim Ashraf 4-5(6), 4-2, 4-1.

Boys/girls’ Under-12 final: Hamza roman bt Abdul Basit 4-1, 4-0.