ISLAMABAD: Unseeded Arham Atiq caused the first upset in the Subh-e-Nau National Clay Court Tennis Championship here at the PTF Complex on Wednesday when he outclassed third seed Yasir Khan to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals.

Promising Arham made an inspiring comeback in the second-round match against Yasir after losing the opening set 2-6.

In the second set, young Arham made his intentions known as he overpowered his experienced opponent 6-4. The decisive set saw Arham in the driving seat as he won it 6-3 to wrap up the proceedings to cruise into the quarters.

Earlier in the day, Aqeel Khan, elder brother of Yasir, also qualified for the men’s singles quarter-finals beating Abdal Haider in straight sets.

Mudassar Murtaza, Muzammil Murtaza, Usman Rafique, Shehzad Khan, Heera Ashiq and Mohammad Abid also recorded victories to make the last-eight phase.

Muzammil Murtaza, meanwhile, also reached the boys U-18 quarter-finals after winning his first and second-round matches against Shakirullah and Shoaib Khan, respectively.

Saqib Khan, Aman Atique, Aqib Umar, Yousuf Khan, Syed Nofil Kaleem and Haris Irfan-ul-Haq also advanced to the boys U-18 quarter-finals.

In the men’s doubles opening round match, experienced duo of Rasheed Malik and Hameedul Haq comfortably defeated the Arham Atiq-Kashanul-Haq pair 6-3, 5-7 (11-9).

Results:

Men’s singles:

Second round: Aqeel Khan bt Abdal Haider 6-3, 6-2; Mudassar Murtaza bt Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 6-2, 6-2; Arham Atiq bt Yasir Khan 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; Usman Rafique bt Babar Ali Akbar 6-4, 6-4; Muzammil Murtaza bt Shaheen Mahmood 6-1, 6-3; Shehzad Khan bt Raja Shahid 6-1, 6-2; Heera Ashiq bt Aman Atique 6-0, 6-3; Mohammad Abid bt Shahid Afridi 6-1, 6-1.

Boys U-18:

First round: Muzammil Murtaza bt Shakirullah 6-1, 6-2; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman bt Hamza bin Rehan 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Second Round: Muzammil Murtaza bt Shaoib Khan 6-0, 6-2; Saquib Umar bt Kashan Umar 6-2, 6-3; Aman Atique bt Ahtesham Abbasi 6-2, 6-1; Aqib Umar bt Asadullah 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; Yousuf Khan bt Abdullah Adnan 6-1, 6-2; Syed Nofil Kaleem bt Farhanullah 6-1, 6-1; Haris Irfanul-Haq bt Jasir Manzoor 6-0, 6-0.

Men’s doubles:

First round: Irfanullah Khan/Shaheen Mahmood bt Wakeel Khan/Ikramullah 6-3, 6-3; Rashid Malik/Hameedul Haq bt Kashan-ul-Haq/Arham Atique 6-3, 5-7 (11-9).

Boys U-14:

First round: Abdullah Adnan bt Yahya Moosa Looni 4-1, 4-1; Abdul Wahab Anwar bt Mohammad Talha Khan 4-0, 4-0; Subhan bin Salik bt Hameedullah 4-0, 4-0; Ubaidullah bt Syed Mohammad Ahmed -- walkover; Mohammad Huzaifa Khan bt Hamza Jawad 4-1, 4-2.

Second round: Shoaib Khan bt Haseebullah 4-1, 4-0; Ahmed Kamil bt Hamza Roman 4-2, 4-1; Sami Zaib bt Ubaidullah 4-1, 4-1.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2016