ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: Veteran Hameedul Haq turned back the clock to knock out fifth seed Shahzad Khan, 17 years his junior in the men’s singles event of the 20th Federal Cup Tennis Championship on Wednesday.

The victory, creditable as it was, earned Hameed a clash in the quarterfinals against top seed Aqeel Khan.

In what was a marathon match that lasted two hours and 40 minutes, Hameed played a consistent game from the baseline to score a creditable 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Shahzad ranked Pakistan’s No 5.

Hameed, the Asian veterans champion broke the first and 9th games of Shahzad and fired fine shots from the baseline to clinch the opening set and then quickly raced to a 4-1 lead in the second. But Shahzad fought back to level the scores at 4-all and then went on to win the set.

However, Hameed edged ahead 2-0 in the final set by breaking his opponent’s first game and clinched the match by holding his own serve displaying a controlled game on the clay courts of Islamabad Club.

Shahzad is the national junior champion and represented Pakistan in this year’s Davis Cup tie against Japan.

All the other top players including another veteran Rashid Malik advanced to the quarterfinals.

Results:

Men’s singles pre quarterfinals: Aqeel Khan bt Shahrukh Niazi 6-2, 6-1, Hameedul Haq bt Shahzad Khan 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, Rashid Malik bt Pervaiz Khan 6-1, 6-2, Umair Qayyum bt Ali Hassan Baghat 6-0, 6-1, Mehmood Khan bt Adnan Khan 6-2, 6-1, Nomi Qamar bt Saeedul Haq 6-3, 6-1, Jalil Khan bt Ghulam Rasool 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-2, Asim Shafik bt Tanveer Ashiq 6-0, 6-0.

Boys under-18 singles pre quarterfinals: Shahzad Khan bt Ahmed Ali 6-0, 6-1, Aftab Anwar bt Changez Afridi 6-1, 6-3, Adnan Khan bt Omer Babar 6-4, 6-7(4) 6-3, Tanvir Munir bt Khurrum Nazir 6-2, 6-0, Wasif Cheema bt Tabish Raza 6-0, 6-1, Shahrukh Niazi bt M. Usman Ejaz 6-3, 6-1, Yasir Khan bt Ahmed Ejaz 6-4, 6-0, Tanveer Ashiq bt Jehangir Rashid 6-0, 6-3.

Boys under-14 singles pre quarterfinals: Omer Babar bt Jahangir Rashid 4-0, 4-0, Tabish Raza bt Behram Wahid 4-1, 4-1, Kurrum Nazir bt Danyal Alvi 5-3, 4-2, M. Usman Ejaz bt Muteen Arif 4-1, 4-0, Jawad Gardezi bt Ghulam Abbas 4-1, 5-4(1), Ahmed Aslam bt Waqas Malik 4-0, 4-1, Tanvir Munir bt Changez Afridi 4- 0, 4-0, Yasir Khan bt S M Abbas 4-1, 4-1

Boys under-12 quarterfinals: M Waqas Malik bt Zahir Jaffar 5- 4(2), 4-1, Usman Sikander bt Zahid Ajam 5-3, 4-0, Ghulam Abbas bt Yousaf Ajam 4-0, 5-4(1), Sadanul Haq w/o Umair Khalid. Ladies singles pre quarterfinals: Mariam Rahim bt Sahar Khawaja 6-0, 6-1, Maira Rahim bt Fatima Mansoor 6-1, 6-0, Shiza Ihtisham bt Antaq 6-2, 6-2, Sana Bhagat bt Nida Rahim 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, Saba Aziz bt Sara Mansoor 6-1, 6-0, Nosheen Ihtisham bt Tamzim 6-1, 6- 2, Mehvish Chishtie w/o Sara Rehman, Zara Omer w/o Shaila Nazir

Men’s doubles pre quarterfinals: Ikramul Haq-Kamran Khalil bt Waheed Anwar-Hassan Mansoor 6-0, 6-0, Perviaz-Khan-Azeem Khan bt Wakeel Khan-Shahzad (PAF) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, Hameedul Haq-Asim Shafik bt Khawar Hayat-Maj Pervaiz 6-0, 6-1, Saeedul Haq-Nouman Durrani bt M. Babar-Sheikh Asghar 6-2, 6-2.