LAHORE: Aqeel Khan Muzammil Murtaza, Mohammad Shoaib and Barkatullah confirmed their semi-finals berths in the Khawaja Iftikhar Ahmad Memorial National Ranking Tennis Championship here at the Sports Board Punjab Tennis on Wednesday.
Top-seed Aqeel downed Abubakar Talha 6-3, 6-0, while Muzammil Murtaza beat Yousaf 6-2, 6-3. Barkatullah pulled off an upset to oust Mohammad Abid 6-3, 6-1 and Mohammad Shoaib outclassed youngster Ahmed Nael 6-4, 2-1.
In the women’s singles last-16 matches, top-seed Ushna Sohail outclassed Noor Malik 6-2, 6-0 while Sheeza Sajid recorded a flawless 6-0, 6-0 win over Zara Khan. Lalarukh Sajid also sealed a quarter final spot with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over Ayesha Shahid.
In the other matches, Mehaq Khokar brushed aside Fajar Fayyaz 6-1, 6-2 and Labika Durah recorded a hard fought 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 win over Laiba Iqbal.
Meanwhile, Zunaira Noor, Amna Ali Qayum and Mahrukh Sajid received walk overs their respective opponents.
In the boys U-18 pre-quarters, Hamza Roman, Shehryar Aneez, Ahtesham Humayun, Bilal Asim, Hamza Ali Rizwan, Abubakar Talha sealed last-eight spots with comfortable victories.
Mohammad Shayan Afridi, Ohad-e-Mustafa and Abdur Rehman progressed in the boys U-14 semi-finals while Rashid Ali, Arsh Imran, Ansar Ullah, Shayan Afridi, M Aayan, Ibrahim Gill, Mohammad Muaz and Mohammad Junaid moved into U-12 quarter-finals.
Results (quarter-finals):
Men’s doubles: Barkat Ullah/Yousaf Khalil bt Faizan Fayyaz/Sikandar Hayat w/o, Aisam ul Haq /Muzammil Murtaza bt Haider Ali Rizwan/ Hamza Ali Rizwan 6-3, 6-2, M Abid/Abdullah Adnan bt Heera Ashiq /Ahmed Nael 6-1, 6-1, Aqeel Khan/M Shoaib bt Imran Bhatti/Mahir Nisar 6-2, 6-2, Mahir Nisar/Qadeer Nawaz bt Sajid Ali Bukhari /Ch Khalil.
Mixed doubles: Aisam ul Haq/Ushna Sohail bt Yousaf Khalil and Rahat ul Ain 6-3, 6-3, Noor Malik/M Abid bt Sheeza Sajid /Barkat Ullah 6-2, 6-1, Sara Mansoor/M Shoaib bt Ayesha Shahid /Shahrzoe Malik 6-0, 6-0, Amna Ali/ Abdullah Adnan bt Meheq Khokhar and Aqeel Khan 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2024
