ISLAMABAD: Top-ranked Aqeel Khan will face Shahzad Khan in the men’s singles final at the Earth Day Subh-e-Nau Clay Court Championship after both cruised through their semi-finals on Monday.

Aqeel handed a tennis lesson to young Jibran-ul-Haq, who had reached the last four after two majors upsets in the tournament, while Shahzad won convincingly against fast-rising Mudasir who upset second seed Mohammad Abid in the quarter-finals.

Due to inclement weather, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Complex could not hold the semi-finals and the matches were moved to a private farm house of Naseer Jaffer — the tennis-loving Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) chairman.

And at the indoor court, Aqeel outclassed unseeded Jibran 6-1, 6-1 before Shahzad brought Mudasir’s run to an end when he won 6-1, 6-2.

Mohammad Muzamil, Nofil Kaleem, Hamza-bin-Atif and Barkatullah Khan had already booked their places in U-18 semi-finals but their ties were yet to be decided till the filing of this report.

“The men’s doubles semi-finals are in progress at the moment and after that we will decide on organising the U-18 semi-finals either tonight or early on Tuesday morning,” said a PTF official who was supervising indoor matches on Monday’s night.

The finals of men’s singles, U-18 and men’s doubles events are scheduled on Tuesday at the PTF Complex.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2015

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