KARACHI, May 4: Two major upsets were witnessed on the second day of the National seniors tennis championship, when the top seeds Humiyan Zafar and Akber Hayat Khan bowed out of the plus 45 category singles played on Wednesday evening at the Karachi Gymkhana hard courts.

Top seed Humiyan Zafar met his Waterloo at the hands of Tahir Gul 6-3, 6-2 and second seed Akber Hayat Khan was beaten by Salman Rizvi 6-3, 7-5.

After winning his unfinished match against Mushtaq Ahmed 6-1, 6-3, Akber went back on court beaming with confidence. But little did he realise that he was facing a determined opponent in the likes of Salman Rizvi.

Salman took the first set 6-3 and was trailing 5-2 in the second, before he rallied back magnificently to win the next set and match 7-5.

In another encounter that went to the wire, Azharuddin beat Fawad Ijaz Khan leading 1-0 overnight, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in a clash between two lefthanders. Fawad relied heavily on his powerful ground strokes, but Azharuddin with some fine placing often caught his opponent on the wrong foot which earned him valuable points.

Earlier on the opening day, Fawad got the better of Saleem Qureshi 6-2, 6-4.

In another encounter, Tahir Gul accounted for Humayun Zafar 6-3, 6-2.

Only two matches could be completed in the plus 35 category. In the first match Rizwan Shamsi beat Saleem Sadiq 6-3, 6-2 and Shahid Aziz got the better of Rasheed Ahmed 6-4, 6-1.

In the plus 45 doubles event, Humayun Zaffar and Babar Ali Khan beat Rasheed Ahmed and Masood 6-2, 6-3.

In the next match, unseeded Ronnie Dubash and Yasin Dost Mohammad were locked 1-1 with the top seeds Fawad Ijaz Khan and Jaffar Hassan.

After leading 5-1 in the first set, Ronnie and Yasin’s game fell apart as Fawad and Jaffar clawed their way back to take over the lead 6-5.

However, with a lightning smash Ronnie and his partner were tied once again 6-6, only to lose the tie breaker 9-7. However, playing a better brand of tennis, Ronnie and Yasin grabbed the next set 7-5 and were tied 1-1 when play was called off for the day.

Following were the results:

Men’s singles plus 45:

Akbar Hayat Khan beat Mushtaq Ahmed 6-1, 6-3. Khawaja Masroor beat A. Rashid 6-2, 6-2. Fawad Ijaz Khan beat Saleem Qureshi 6-2, 6-4. Tahir Gul beat Humiyan Zafar 6-3, 6-2. Azharuddin beat Fawaz Ijaz Khan 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Salman Rizvi beat Akbar Hayat Khan 6-3, 7-5.

Men’s singles plus 35:

Rizwan Shamshi beat Saleem Sadiq 6-3, 6-2. Shahid Rasheed beat Rasheed Ahmed 6-4, 6-1.

Men’s doubles plus 45:

Humiyan Zafar and Baber Ali Khan beat Rasheed Ahmed and Masood 6-2, 6-3. Ronnie Dubash and Yasin Dost Mohammad were locked 1-1 with Fawad Ijaz Khan and Jaffar Hassan 6-7 (7-9), 7-5.