ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The National Clay Court Tennis Championship commenced at the PTF Tennis Complex on Tuesday with 18 ties played on the first day.

In the men’s singles qualifying round, Ahmed Chaudhry, Talha Saeed, Ahmad Ijaz, Asjad Eitazaz, Hamza Pataudi, Sajid Ali, Basit Gabol and Roman Gul advanced into the main round of the championship.

In boys U-17 category, Imran Farooq , Haseeb Yaqoob, Sajid Ali, Saad Zafar and Talal Almas made their way easily into the main round.

Aqeel Khan will start his journey towards the title with the first round match against Heera Ashiq from Wednesday. Aqeel is also the top seed in the men’s singles category. while Asim Shafiq is ranked second in the championship.

Results of qualifying rounds:

First round:

Salman Ikram bt Taimoor Adil 8-3; Nameer Shamsi bt Amir Saleem 8-3; Talha Saeed bt Nabeel Ahmed 8-4; Hasan Tariq bt Nabeel-ur-Rehman 8-1; Sajid Ali bt Imran Khan – 8-0; Shabbir bt M. Adnan 8-4; Basit Gabool bt Ghufran Bajwa 8-2.

Second round:

Ahmed Chaudhry bt Salman Ikram 8-3; Ahmad Ijaz bt Nameer Shamsi 8-5; Talha Saeed bt Ali Murad 8-6; Asjad Aitazaz bt Hasan Tariq 8-6; Sajid Ali bt Usman Aitazaz 8-1; Roman Gul bt Shabbir 8-4; Basit Gabool bt Shehryar Khan 8-0.

Boys’ U-17 singles:

First round:

Imran Farooq bt Nabeel Ahmed 8-3; Haseeb Yaqoob bt Hasan Tariq 8-6; Sajid Ali bt Noman 8-1; M. Saad Zafar bt M. Adnan – 8-0.