ISLAMABAD: Top seed Aqeel Khan faces second seed Mohammad Shoaib in the men’s singles final of the 35th Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championships here at the S.Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex on Friday.
In the semi-final, Aqeel faced stiff resistance from Muzammil Murtaza in the semi-final with both the players displaying some excellent forehand and backhand drives.
Muzammil’s ground strokes in the opening set were prefect in rhythm, he was flawless from the net to take the set 6-4.
In the second set, Aqeel bounced back to level the match 1-1. In the decisive set, Aqeel maintained his game to claim the set 6-3 by breaking the second game of Muzammil and with it the match that lasted two hours, 16 minutes.
In the other semi-final, Shoaib outclassed sixth seed Mudassar Murtaza 6-4, 6-2.
The best encounter of the day was the semi-final played between third seed Sami Zeb Khan and Mohammad Talha Khan in the junior 18 and under category.
In the first set, Talha built a solid lead 5-1 by breaking the fourth and sixth games of Sami.
Sami then changed the pace and reduced Talha’s lead by breaking the ninth game holding the 10th game, to make it 5-5. The set was decided in the tiebreak, which Sami won 14-12.
Talha came back to win the second set and the match levelked at 1-1. In the final set, Sami managed to break the eighth game of Talha to take a 5-3 lead. Keeping the pressure in the ninth game by hitting some excellent crosscourt shots, Sami took the third set 6-3 and the match.
Top seed Bilal Asim overcame fifth seed Ahmad Nael 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the other junior 18 and under semi-final.
Results (semi-finals):
Men’s singles: Aqeel Khan bt Muzammil Murtaza 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Mohammad Shoaib bt Mudassar Murtaza 6-4, 6-2
Women’s singles: Sarah Mehboob bt Amna Qayyum 6-0, 6-0; Noor Malik Vs Esha Jawad (in progress).
Men’s doubles: Muzammil Murtaza/Mudassar Murtaza bt Mohammad Shoaib/Barkatullah 1-6, 6-3, 10-2; Heera Ashiq/Yousuf Khalil bt Mohammad Talha/Mohammad Huzaifa 6-4, 6-1
Junior 18 & under singles: Bilal Asim bt Ahmed Nael 7-5, 1-6, 6-3; Sami Zeb Khan bt Mohammad Talha 7-6(14), 6-7(5), 6-3
Boys & girls 12 & under singles: Abdur Rehman bt Mohammad Shakib 4-1, 4-2: Haziq Arejo bt Hajra Suhail 4-1, 4-1.
