Easy times for favourites

Published March 23, 2006

LAHORE, March 22: All seeded players moved into the quarterfinals of the men’s singles of the All Pakistan tennis championship at the Bagh-i-Jinnah grass courts on Wednesday. In one of the best match, M Shafiq stretched to three sets by Munir Ashiq before winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Shafiq started badly committing several unforced errors, allowing Munir to grab the first set, breaking serve in the 4th game.

But Shafiq roared back winning next two sets, easily. Top seed Aqeel Khan overwhelmed Tanveer Ashiq 6-2, 6-2.

Aqeel’s brothers Jalil Khan and Yasir Khan also booked their places in the last eight.

Jalil completed 6-2, 6-4 win over Umar Babar while Yasir proved too good against Mehmood Khan 7-5, 6-4.

Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar and a veteran Rasheed Malik are other seeded players, who made the last eight.

The Boys U-17 and U-13’s events also entered the quarterfinals stage.

Results:

Men’s singles (pre-quarterfinals): Aqeel Khan bt Tanveer Ashiq 6-2, 6-2; Yasir Khan bt Mehmood Khan 7-5, 6-4; Nomi Qamar bt Wasif Cheema 6-0, 6-2; Inam Gul bt Tanveer Munir 6-4, 6-2; M Shafiq bt Munir Ashiq 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jalil Khan bt Umar Babar 6-2, 6-4; Rasheed Malik bt Shahid Afridi 6-3, 6-3; Asim Shafik bt Ahmad Aslam 6-1, 6-1.

Boys U-17 (pre-quarterfinals): Abid Ali bt Ali Sheikh 6-1, 6-2; Khurram Nazir bt Danish Ilyas 6- 1, 6-1; Heera Ashiq bt Jibranul Haq 6-2, 6-2; Usman Ijaz bt Abid 6-1, 6-1; Umar Babar bt Zohair Raza 6-0, 6-3; Ahmed Aslam bt Ibrahim Khalid 6-2, 6-3; Tanveer Ashiq bt Fizan Khurram 6-1, 6-3; Yasir Khan bt Waqas Malik 6-0, 6-2.

Boys U-13 (pre-quarterfinals): Zohair Raza bt Faiz Feroze 6-1, 6-0; Ahmad Babar bt Abdul Rehman 6-4, 6-4; Kisanul Haq bt Usman 6-2, 6-2; Danish Ilyas bt Ahmad Chaudhary 6-2, 6-2; M Abid bt Hassan 6-1, 6-2; Adil bt Bakhat 6- 1, 6-1; Faizan Khurram bt Ibrahim Shah 6-1, 6-4; Jibranul Haq bt Hamza 6-2, 6-2. Ladies’ singles: Ushna Sohail bt Mamoona Kausar 6-0, 6-0; Salah Rehan bt Sadia Rasheed 6-1, 6-1.

Mix’s doubles (One-off set): Aqeel Khan-Sarah Mansoor bt M Shafiq-Quratul Ain 8-7 (6); Jalil Khan-Nitasha Afridi bt Shahid Afridi-Mehreen 8-2; Nomi Qamar-Sabah Aziz bt Inam Gul-Mehak Khokhar 8-3.

Men’s doubles. Ahmed Aslam-Arif Feroze bt Abbas Raza-Mubashar Afridi 6-2, 6-3. Seniors’ doubles: Inamul Haq Nauman Aleem bt Farakh Malik-Naseer Ahmed 6-1, 6-1; Inamullah Khan-Ghulam Rasool bt M Babar-Mehboob Khan 7-5, 6-4. Khalid Ikram-Asad Niaz bt Sohail Iqbal-Toor 6-3, 6-2.

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