Aqeel clinches tennis tourney title in Islamabad

KARACHI (PPI): Top seed Aqeel Khan clinched men’s singles event title after beating surprise opponent Muzammil Murtaza in a three-set final in 31st Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championships at S. Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex in Islamabad on Saturday.

Muzammil, seeded fifth in the tournament, played excellent tennis in the first set and won the first set by 6-3 score by breaking fourth game of Aqeel. The score went up to 3-3 all in the second set as both the players hold their respective services.

Aqeel won the second set in the same fashion by breaking eighth game of Muzammil at the score of 40-15 by hitting some number of shorts down the lines.

Aqeel was in full command in the final set and did not allow his opponent to do much with his powerful forehand and backhand drives and won the set by 6-0 score without conceding. The match lasted 1 hrs 35 minutes.

Shahzad Khan and M. Usman Ejaz took the men’s doubles title after beating top seed Muzammil Murtaza and Mudassar Murtaza by 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 score.

Second seed Ushna Suhail clinched the Ladies Singles title after beating third seed Sarah Mahboob in a well contested three-set match by 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-0 score.

Yousaf Khan won the Junior U-18 title after beating Muhamamd Shoaib by 6-2, 7-5 score. Haseesh Kumar of Karachi took the title of Boy’s U-14 event after beating Nalain Abbas in a three-set match by 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 score.

Hamza Roman of Peshawar won Boys & Girls U-10 title after winning his encounter against Jamal Shah in a three-set match by 5-3, 3-5, 4-2 score. A total number of 150 players participated from all over the country.

Salim Saifullah Khan President PTF was the Chief Guest and Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas as Guest of Honor distributed the prizes amongst the winner and runner up of the Championships.