KARACHI: Tennis ace Aqeel Khan is due to fly to Dubai on Friday morning to feature in back-to-back US$10,000 ITF Futures in the UAE and Bahrain.

The Pakistan No 1 will appear in the qualifying rounds of the first leg being held on the hard courts at Fujera on Saturday.

The main round gets into action from Monday.

In the next stage, he will travel to Bahrain to compete in the qualifiers which begins on March 24.

“I’m going privately to get much needed practice for the second round Davis Cup Asia Oceania zone group two tie against Philippines slated from April 6 to 8,” Aqeel told Dawn on the eve of his departure to Dubai.

The rubber that was originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan was relocated to Manila, Philippines, by the ITF for security reasons.

Aqeel said he will skip the remaining two legs of the ITF Futures at Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make him available for the Davis Cup assignment.

Meanwhile, another talented player Zohair Raza has also entered in the first two qualifiers of the ITF Futures.

According to information, he has already reached Dubai the other day.