LAHORE, Oct 8: Unseeded Kumail Hasan caused an upset when he outgunned the sixth seeded Adnan Khan 7-5, 6-4 on the eventful first day of the ITF world junior tennis ranking championship at the Punjab Tennis Association grass courts Monday.
In all, nine matches were played in the boys’ singles among them three went to full distance. The winners entered the pre- quarterfinal.
Kumail who had registered upset in the first competition of this kind which ended at the same venue Sunday by defeating the third seeded Gulzeb Niazi 6-2, 6-3, proved too good against Adnan who had also stunned third seed of that competition Wasif Cheema.
Kumail and Adnan fought neck and neck till 5-5 by keeping their serves. Kumail took lead when he broke Adnan service in the 11th game and then held his own to win the set 7-5.
In the second set, Adnan and Kumail were level at 4-4, but the later showed good speed and stamina to win the set and the match. He broke Adnan in the ninth game and held his own in the next game to move into the pre-quarterfinal of the competition.
In a thrilling match, Wasif Cheema recovered to eliminate a fighting Akbar Patuaudi 6-7 (7/4), 6-1, 6-4.
Wasif took a commanding lead 5-2, but Pataudi fought back to level the score at 5-5 and then 6-6 to extend the set into a tie-breaker. and eventually claimed the set.
The second set saw Wasif in outstanding form as he showed no mercy to level the match winning the set 6-1.
In the decisive set, Wasif and Akbar were on even keel at 4-4 by holding their serves. At this stage Wasiq took command of the match and went on to clinch the set and the match.
Omer Latif also battled hard to beat the qualifier Talal Khan 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. After winning the first set comfortably Omer lost concentration and allowed Talal to break his service in the 11th game who then held his own for close the set at 7-5 to extend the match into third and final set.
Somewhat chastened by the loss of the second set spurred Omer who played flawless tennis and gave no chance to Talal and won it after dropping only two games.
Gulzaib Niazi faced strong opposition from Said H Khan before overpowering his game opponent in another three-setter 7-5, 0-6, 6-4.
Second seed Suleman Bashir was in devastating form and overwhelmed a hapless wild card entry Omer Badi-uz-Zaman 6-2, 6-0.
In the other matches Danish Ahmad blasted Aiman Khan 6-3, 6-1; seventh seeded Mahir Nisar routed Zain-ul-Qureshi 6-1, 6-1; Ashiq Rasool proved too good for qualifier Umair Qayyum 6-0, 6-1 while Mohammad Nadeem ousted another wild card Malik Tanvir 6-1, 6-2. Tuesday’s fixture: Boys’ singles at 9.30am. Boys’ doubles at 2.3pm.