KARACHI, April 11 The men`s singles qualifying round for the Pakistan Open tennis championship begins at the Karachi Club courts on Saturday.

The top eight qualifiers, all quarter-finalists, will step into the main round and join the 20 PTF ranking players and four wild cards in a draw of 32.

Meanwhile, according to draws, defending champion Aqeel Khan has been top seeded in the men`s singles. He is followed by Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik and Nomi Qamar.

Aqeel fought tooth and nail to overcome brother Jalil 7-5, 7-6 (11-9) in the last year`s marathon final to land men`s singles crown at the CDGK Sports Complex.

This will be Nomi`s first appearance after completing a two-month ban which was slapped on him by the Sindh Tennis Association (STA) for `unsporting attitude` at the closing ceremony of the 11th Sindh Games held in the recent past at Sukkur.

Islamabad`s Sara Mehboob heads the seeding in ladies singles. She is followed by last year`s runner up Sara Mansoor.

Promising Syed Zuhair Raza, Adil Kohari and Khwaja Hamza tops the seeding in juniors U-17, boys U-15 and U-13 singles.

The main round of the competition starts Sunday.

Saturday`s fixtures

Men`s singles qualifying rounds at 900am