LAHORE: Top seed and defending champion Aqeel Khan breezed past Abid Khan in the men’s singles final of the Sheharyar Malik National Grass Court Tennis Championship at the Punjab Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) courts here on Saturday.

Aqeel, who has been in top form throughout the tournament, winning all his matches in straight sets, faced no opposition from Abid wrapping up the final 6-3, 6-4.

Aqeel, who earlier had also won the doubles with Shahzad Khan, showed no sign of fatigue in the singles final as he was quick to fold up the first set 6-3 with breaks in the fourth and ninth games. Within an hour Aqeel came out of court as winner, clinching the second set 6-4, as Abid failed to match the skill and speed of his rival. Aqeel hit five aces too.

In the men’s doubles, Aqeel and Shahzad defeated Mohammad Abid and Usman Rafique 6-3, 6-3 to earn second crown.

In the Under-18, Nouman Aftab from Karachi lifted the title, beating Peshawar’s Saqib Umer 6-1, 6-0 in the final.

In the final of the men’s seniors (40 Plus), Talha Waheed and Major Adnan were declared winner after the pair of Sid Siddique and Fayyaz Khan were retired hurt.

In the Under-14, Sami Zeb of Peshwar beat an opponent from his own city Hamid Israr 6-1, 6-2, winning the title. In the Under-12 final, Hamid Israr beat Bilal Asim 8-6. In the Under-10 final, Hamza beat Abubaker Talha.

In the Men’s 50-Plus, ex-Davis Cupper, Rashid Malik and his partner Israr Gul beat Rai Zafar and Dr Naveed Rizvi 6-3, 6-3 to win the title.

In the Men’s Senior (60-plus), Asad Niaz and Khurram Khwaja remained winners against Iftikhar Ahmed Rao and Rai Zafar, winning the final 6-4, 6-7, 10-5.

Later, Pakistan Tennis Federation president Saleem Saifullah gave away the prizes.

Meanwhile, PLTA chairman Rao Iftikhar said that his association had started a three-year junior tennis programme and he hoped that the other units of the federation would also launch similar programmes.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2018