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KARACHI, Nov 27: Local player Zulfiqar Hakeem on Thursday ended the much created hype by scoring a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Indian national champion K. V. N. Murthy in 35-plus singles on way to making it to the last four in the Pakistan International Seniors world ranking tennis championship at Karachi Club.
Murthy, who had reached the quarters following a bye and a walkover, virtually surrendered the battle without offering any fight to his opponent. “I was mentally disturbed the moment I received the news of mayhem in Mumbai through long distance telephone calls,” a dejected Murthy told Dawn after the match.
The visitor said after reaching local hotel where he was staying, he went to bed early Wednesday night only to wake up with the phone calls from his wife, parents and relatives.
“I informed them that I’m safe and board the plane for Mumbai on Sunday,” he added.
He, however, felt sorry for not delivering his best in the singles. He also had a word of praise for his left-handed opponent.
The Murthy and Ejaz Sarhadi pair notched up their second successive win in the 35 plus doubles prevailing 6-3, 6-3 over Iltifat and Javed Iqbal to advance into the semis where they faces Shahid Hussain and Asif Ismail on Friday.
Meanwhile, ex Davis Cupper Rashid Malik won the 45 plus singles title virtually outplaying top seed Tahir Gul 6-0, 6-1 in the one-sided final.
Rashid left for Lahore in the late evening.
Results:
45 plus singles final:
Rashid Malik bt Tahir Gul 6-0, 6-1.
45 plus doubles second round:
Khawaja Masroor and Shahid Maniya bt Tariq Aziz and M. Tahir 6-0, 6-1.
35 plus singles quarter-final:
Rafi Darbari bt Mubarak Shah 6-2, 6-0.
Zulfiqar Hakeem bt K. V. N. Murthy 6-2, 6-3.
35 plus doubles first round:
Shabbir Gul and Rafi Darbari (Hyderabad) bt Mubarak Shah and Naved Godil 6-1, 6-1; Shahid Hussain and Asif Ismail bt Nadeem Hafiz and Hanif Hafiz 7-5, 7-5.
55 plus singles quarter-final:
Jamil Khan bt Fhilippo Giuseppe (Italy) 6-1, 6-1.
Friday’s fixtures:
Singles matches 5.00pm; doubles matches 6.30pm.
