ISLAMABAD: Country’s top tennis player Aqeel Khan had to experience shock defeat at the hands of a lower-ranked player in the quarter-final of NBP Subh-e-Nau National tennis championship at the PTF Complex here on Thursday.

Aqeel lost to seventh-seed Ahmed Chaudhry in a well-contested match. Ahmed displayed quality tennis to wub 6-4, 6-3.

Third seed Shehzad Khan was also defeated by an unseeded player in another quarter-final of men’s singles on the day of upsets. Imran Shaukat, who is a coach by profession, overpowered Shehzad in straight sets.

Second seed M. Abid faced stiff resistance from his opponent Usman Rafique in the first set of the third quarter-final, however, he won the match convincingly.

Heera Ashiq was the fourth player who joined the semi-final line-up after beating Talha Zubair.

There were interesting contests witnessed in boys’ U-18 quarter-finals as second seed M. Mudassar was beaten by fifth seed Arham Atique.

Seventh seed Talha Zubair defeated third seed Hasnain Manzoor while fourth seed M. Muzammil managed to win against Aman Atique after a tough contest.

Barkatullah also joined the semi-final line up after beating Kashan-ul-Haq in an interesting match.

Rida Khalid, Iman Qureshi and Alina Aftab managed to reach semi-finals of ladies singles.

Results: Men’s singles (quarter-finals):

Ahmed Chaudhry bt Aqeel Khan 6-4, 6-3; Heera Ashiq bt Talha Zubair 6-1, 6-0, Imran Shaukat bt Shehzad Khan 6-4, 6-2, M. Abid bt Usman Rafique 7-5, 6-1.

Boys’ U-18 (pre-quarterfinals):

Barkatullah bt Kashanulhaq 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, M. Muzammil bt Aman Atiq 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5), Talha Zubair bt Hasnain Manzoor 6-2, 6-0, Arham Atique bt Mohammad Mudassar 6-1, 6-4.

Men’s doubles (quarter-final):

M. Abid / Usman Rafique bt Ahmed Chaudhry / Faizan Khurram 6-2, 7-5.

Semi-final: Aqeel Khan / Shehzad bt Zain Nawab / Shahid Afridi 6-1, 6-1.

Ladies singles (quarter-finals):

Rida Khalid bt Zarkoon Kalil 6-0, 6-0, Alina Aftab bt Badshah 6-0, 6-0, Iman Qureshi bt Shahida Farooq 6-1, 6-1.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2014