ISLAMABAD: Abid Ali Akbar, Haseeb Yaqoob, and Shahroze Rohail all triumphed on a day of upsets galore at the Kulsum Saifullah National Ranking Tennis Championship here on Tuesday.

The unseeded trio stole the spotlight from top seed Mohammad Muzammil who managed to overcome 53-year-old Hamid-ul-Haq, 38 years his senior, to enter the quarter-finals at the Pakistan Tennis Federation Complex.

After both players held their serve in the first eight games, Muzammil broke Hamid on his way to taking the set 6-4 before eliminating the veteran by winning the second 6-3.

Abid stunned third seed Heera Ashiq 6-3, 6-1 with a brilliant performance in which he showed an array of forehand, backhand and ground strokes.

Sixth-seeded Sanaullah Khan followed Heera out the exit door when he lost 2-6, 2-6 to Haseeb before Zohair Raza, the fourth seed, went out to Ahmad Chaudhry who won 6-0, 2-6, 7-5.

There was also an upset in the under-18 event with Shahroze eliminating third-seeded Ilham Khan 7-6, 7-5.

Seeded players enjoyed some respite in the men’s doubles, boys’ under-14 and boys’ under-12 events while in the only game of the ladies competition played on Tuesday, Noor Malik overcame Marium Mirza 7-5, 6-0.

Results:

Men’s singles:

Pre-quarter-finals: Mohammad Abid bt Malik Hamza 6-1, 6-1; Imran Shaukat bt Shahzad 6-4, 6-4; Abid Ali bt Heera Ahsiq 6-3, 6-1; Haseeb Yaqoob bt Sanaullah Khan 6-2, 6-2; Ahmed Ch bt Syed Zohair Raza 6-0, 2-6, 7-5; Shahzad Khan bt Ejaz Khan 6-1, 6-2; Mohammad Muzammil bt Hamid-ul-Haq 6-4, 6-3; Yasir Khan bt Sikandar Hayat 6-0, 7-5.

Men’s doubles:

First round: Abid Ali/Babar Ali bt Heera Ashiq/Sanaullah Khan 6-3, 6-2; Ahmed Ch/Waqas Malik bt Abbas Khan/Ikramullah 6-2, 6-3; Zohair Raza/Mohammad Muzammil bt Haseeb Yaqoob/Arham Atiq 6-3, 7-5; Wakeel Khan/Ejaz Khan bt Rashid Khan/Zakirullah 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Imran Shaukat/Zain Nawab bt Gul Hassan/Mian Bilal 6-1, 6-2; Shahzad /Shahid Afridi bt Sikandar Hayat/Rashid Malik 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Women’s singles:

First round: Noor Malik bt Marium Mirza 7-5, 6-0, Shahida Badsha bt Shahida Farooq—walkover.

Juniors Under-18:

Pre-quarter-finals: Mohammad Muzammil bt Hasan Farooq—walkover; Aman Atiq bt Ibrahim Iltifat 6-0, 6-3; Shahroze Rohail bt Ilham Khan 7-6, 7-5; Haris Irfan-ul-Haq bt Raja Shafaqat 6-3, 6-0; Talha Bin Asif bt Farhanullah 6-1, 7-5; Abdal Haider bt Yousaf Hassan 6-0, 6-0; Raza Sawani bt Huzaifa Abdul Rehman 6-4, 6-0; Hasnain Manzoor bt Barkatullah 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Boys’ Under-14:

First round: Waleed Anwar bt Azhar 4-0, 4-1; Mohammad Aqib bt Fazeel Ahmed—walkover; Abdullah bt Hamid Israr 4-0, 5-3; Shoaib Khan bt Muneeb Sajid 4-0, 4-0; Aqib Umer bt Rayan Sohail 4-2, 5-3; Mohammad Saifullah bt Zalan Khan—walkover; Ahmed Ehtisham bt Zeeshan Khan 5-3, 4-0; Saqib Umar bt Hamza Roman 4-2, 4-2.

Boys’ Under-12:

First round: Uzair Khan bt Huzaifa Khan 4-1, 5-4; Shahryar Khokhar bt Maha Said 5-3, 3-5, 4-1; Yahya Ehtisham bt Ayan-ul-Haq 4-0, 4-0; Hamid Israr bt Rayan-ul-Haq 4-0, 4-0; Sami Zaib bt Ali 4-2, 4-1; Ubaidullah bt Talha Khan 4-2, 5-4; Abdullah bt Haseeb Khan 4-2, 4-2; Abdul Wahab Anwar bt Hamza Roman 4-0, 4-1; Huzaima Abdul Rehman bt Ahmed Nael 5-3, 4-0.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2015

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