KARACHI: The NBP National Tennis Championship kicked off at the Karachi Gymkhana tennis courts here on Thursday with Davis Cupper Aqeel Khan and his brother Yasir reaching the next round with byes.

Aqeel will play against Noor Rehman on Friday in the second round, while Yasir will play against Malik Hamza.

On Thursday, the experienced Ali Hassan could not display brilliance of the past and lost to Malik Hamza.

Hamza won the first set 6-2 and Ali had to retire after conceding two points in the second set.

Earlier, Abdullah and Noor Rehman were awarded walkovers against their respective opponents.

Dawar Rehan proved to be too good against Sheraz in first match of boys’ U-18. Dawar defeated his opponent in straight sets. Aqeel Shabbir and Danish Waheed also qualified for the next round. Top seed Talha Zubair also reached second round by getting a bye.

On Friday, men’s singles and boys’ U-18 matches will be played at 10am while ladies singles and boys U-14 matches will be played at 3pm.

The event is organised by Subh-e-Nau and will continue till the 23rd.—Agencies