PESHAWAR, Nov 16: Top seed Aqil Khan eased into the next round of the men’s singles of the 25th Chief of Air Staff Khyber Cup open tennis championship with an effortless victory over young Shahid Khan at PAF Officers’ Mess Tennis Courts on Wednesday.

With his strong serves and perfect cross court smashes, Aqil raced to 6-3, 6-2 victory.

By contrast the encounter between Pakistan No.2 Asim Shafiq and PAF’s Inamullah proved tougher.

Inam won the first set in a tie-breaker 6-7 (6-6). Asim struggled hard to get back into the game with his strong serves but his opponent proved too good for him.

Inam spent all of his reserved energy on keeping Asim on wrong end but could not prevent the latter snatching the next to sets end the match 6-4, 6-3.

Nomi Qamar defeated Irfanullah 6-4, 6-2. The third seed faced stiff resistance from Irfan in the first set but in the end he proved too strong for his rival.

Shahzad Khan shocked Shahzad of PAF 6-2, 6-4; Inam Gul outclassed Munir Ashiq 6-1, 6-4 and Wasif Cheema beat Tanveer Ashiq 6-4, 6-1.

In the under-13 category, Kashif Saeed and Rashid Khan remained locked at 6-6 in the first sets but in the end Rashid won 5-7 (6-6) in a tie-breaker.

Kashif bounced back winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-4 and the match.

In the other matches Ejaz Umer beat Bilal Khan 6-3, 6-1 and Shah Hussain defeated Khasanul Haq 7-5 (6-6), 6-4.—APP