KARACHI, July 13: Top seeds conveniently crossed first hurdle after cruising to win first round matches in the Sindh Open ranking tennis championship at the Modern Club on Wednesday.

Top seed Aqeel Khan, who arrived here from Seoul after Davis Cup engagements the other day, was quick to dispose of Mustafa Zaidi 6-1, 6-1. He is drawn to meet Abdul Rehman in the quarter-final fixture on Thursday at 4pm.

Second seed Jalil Khan demolished Hyderabad’s wildcard Hamza Asif 6-0, 6-0 while third seed Nomi Qamar struggled to overcome Nameer Shamsi 7-5, 6-3. Fourth seed Syed Zuhair Raza was home 6-1, 6-1 against Adil Kohari.

In the other matches, Abdul Rehman was stretched to limits by Talha Zubair Surmawala before returning victorious 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Farhan Mustafa defeated Nawab Muzaffer of Mirpurkhas 6-0, 6-1 while Sikander Hayat whipped Hassan Siddiqui 6-0, 6-0.

The winner of Hyderabad’s Saad Baloch and Tahir Iftikhar will complete the quarter-final line-up.

Meanwhile, Daniyal Siddiqui, Asad Khan and Azher Abdul Qadir qualified for the juniors’ under-17 main round. The winner of Noor-ur-Rehman and Nazif Ahmed will complete the quartet of qualifiers.

Results: Men’s singles: First round: Abdul Rehman bt Talha Zubair Surmawala 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Aqeel Khan bt Mustafa Zaidi 6-1, 6-1; Farhan Mustafa bt Nawab Muzaffer (Mirpurkhas) 6-0, 6-1; Sikander Hayat Khan bt Hassan Siddiqui 6-0, 6-0; Nomi Qamer bt Nameer Shamsi 7-5, 6-3; Jalil Khan bt Hamza Asif (Hyderabad) 6-0, 6-0; Syed Zuhair Raza bt Adil Kohari 6-1, 6-1.

Boys’ and girls’ under-11 singles: First round: Osama Shaukat bt Ali Faisal 8-0; M. Muneeb Qadir bt Osama Khan 8-3; M. Ahmed bt Kinza Ghanchi 8-2; Suhail Fayyaz bt Abde Ali 8-0.

Boys’ and girls under-15 singles: First round: Taha Bande Ali bt M. Khizer Imran 6-0, 6-0; Nazif Ahmed bt Ali Talpur (Hyderabad) 6-0, 6-0; Romman Shoaib bt Khizer Ghandhi (Hyderabad) 2-6, 6-1, 13-11.

Juniors’ under-17 singles: Final qualifying round: Daniyal Siddiqui bt Ahmed Khan 6-3, 6-2; Asad Khan bt Marib Malik 6-4, 6-1; Azher A. Qadir bt Dawer Rehan 6-2, 6-4. First round: Hassan Siddiqui bt Daniyal Siddiqui 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; Aqeel Shabbir bt Hamza Asif (Hyderabad) 6-1, 6-1.

Boys and girls under-13 singles: First round: Adnan Khan bt M. Raza Sawani 6-4, 6-4.