LAHORE: All seeded players Aqeel Khan, Abid Ali Akbar, Yasir Khan comfortably reached the men’s singles quarter-finals at the fourth Shaharyar Malik Memorial National Grass Court Tennis Championship here on Wednesday.

Top seed Aqeel had an easy sailing in his pre-quarterfinal against Imran Bhatti as the former raced to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Mudassar Murtaza halted the march of 59-year-old former Davis Cupper Rashid Malik after the latter retired due to cramps during the second set. Mudassar easily took the first set 6-2 before Rashid decided to concede the match in the second.

Shehzad Khan overpowered Waqas Malik 6-0, 6-2 while Yousuf Khan defeated Usman Rafiq 7-6, 6-1 and Abid Ali Akbar downed Heera Ashiq 7-5, 6-2.

Muzammil Murtaza drafted an easy victory against Asadullah 6-3, 6-3.

In the day’s only match, which went to three sets Yasir Khan struggled to beat Ahmad Babar 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Mohammad Abid beat Barkatullah 6-4, 6-4.

Meanwhile in the ladies event, top seed Sara Mansoor, Sarah Mehboob, Noor Malik and Mehek Khokhar qualified for the second round.

Noor stunned former No.2 Mehvish Chishti 6-2, 6-4, Mehek proved too good against Mariam Mirza as she grabbed an easy 6-1, 6-1 win, leading national player Sara Mansoor spent little time on the court to outclass Shimza Durrab 6-0, 6-1 and former No.1 Sarah Mehboob outplayed Maha Saeed 6-2, 6-0. Meerum Chaudhry overpowered Tasmiya Hamid 6-2, 6-2, Asifa Shahbaz trounced Nida Akram 6-2, 6-1 and Aksa Akram beat Astafila Arif 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the next round.

Matches of boys U-18 and 35-plus doubles were also decided.

In boys U-18 pre-quarterfinals, Osama Khan beat Shaeel Tahir 2-6, 6-4, 10-8; Abdullah Adnan overpowered Faizan Fayyaz 6-2, 7-5; Hasheesh Kumar downed Huzaifa Khan 4-6, 7-6, 10-6; Sami Zeb outgunned Bilal Asim 6-0, 6-3; Ahmed Kamil crushed Zain Chouhdry 6-2, 6-2; Hamid Israr smothered Ahmed Nail 6-2, 6-2 and Nouman Aftab got the better of Zaryab Khan 6-2, 6-2.

The Aqeel Khan-Talha Waheed duo cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Ashar Khan and Mohammad Shakeel in their 35-plus doubles match.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2019