LAHORE: Top seed Aqeel Khan and Mohammad Abid advanced after winning their respective men’s singles group stage matches of the Sapphire National Open Tennis Championship here at the Punjab Lawn Tennis Association courts on Wednesday.

The 41-year-old veteran Aqeel faced some opposition from experienced Heera Ashiq before winning the match 6-2, 6-4 in 40 minutes.

Abid also struggled before ousting Yousuf Khalil 6-3, 6-4 in Group C while Shoaib Khan defeated emerging Mudassir Murtaza 7-6, 6-3 in their Group D match.

Results:

Men’s singles (group matches):

Group A: Aqeel Khan bt Heera Ashiq 6-2, 6-4

Group C: Mohammad Abid bt Yousuf Khalil 6-3, 6-4

Group D: Shoaib Khan bt Mudassar Murtaza 7-6, 6-3

Men’s doubles (quarter-finals): Aqeel Khan-Shehzad Khan bt Yousuf Khalil-Heera Ashiq 7-6, 7-6; Muzammil Murtaza-Mudassir Murtaza bt Ijaz Khan-Shoaib Khan 4-6, 6-1, 11-9; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman-Mohammad Abid bt Ahmed Babar-Imran Bhatti 6-2, 6-4

Boys U-18 (pre-quarterfinals): Hamid Israr bt Muneeb Majed 6-1, 6-0; Nalain Abbas bt Hamza Jawad 6-2, 6-3; Sami Zaib bt Danish Asfar 6-1, 6-1; Haider Ali Rizwan bt Kashan Tariq 6-0, 6-1; Faizan Fayaz bt Uzair Khan 6-4, 6-0; Zalan Khan bt Ahtesham Arif 6-4, 6-3; Mahatir Mohammad bt Zaeem Ghafoor 6-0, 6-1; Bilal Asim bt Hassan Ali 6-3, 6-3

Girls U-18 (quarter-finals): Amna Ali Qayum bt Zara Khan 6-0, 6-0; Sheeza Sajid bt Tooba Babar Khan 6-0, 6-1; Ashtafila Arif bt Noori Saad 6-3, 6-2; Natalia Zaman bt Zahra suleman 6-1, 6-1

Girls U-12 (quarter-finals): Lalarukh bt Bismel Zia 4-0, 4-1; Zunasha Noor bt Afaf Suleman 4-1, 4-1; Fajar Fayyaz bt Mahrukh 4-1, 4-0

Boys U-14 (pre-quarterfinals): Asad Zaman bt Xeerak Mustafa 4-0, 4-0; Shehryar Anees bt Umar Jawad 4-0, 4-0; M. Ibrahim Ashraf bt Hashar Alam 4-1, 4-0; Shahsawar Khan bt Nabeel Ali Qayyum 4-1, 5-4; Hamza Ali Rizwan bt Abdur Rehman Pirzada 4-0, 4-0; Hamza Roman bt Abdullah Sajjad 4-0, 4-0; Hasnain Ali Rizwan bt Taimoor Khan 4-0, 4-0; Abdul Basit bt M. Sohaan Noor 4-2, 4-1.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2021