Brothers Yasir, Aqeel in final after contrasting wins in semis
Second seed Yasir Khan survived a scare against third seed Mohammad Abid Mushtaq in a gruelling men’s singles semi-final of the second Modern Club Founder Members Tennis Championship
Second seed Yasir Khan survived a scare against third seed Mohammad Abid Mushtaq in a gruelling men’s singles semi-final of the second Modern Club Founder Members Tennis Championship here on Tuesday.
Yasir made a comeback from one set down which he had lost on tie-breaker to turn the tables on his opponent. He was home 6-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3. Both are current members of the Pakistan Davis Cup team that suffered a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of China in the group one first round tie at Sri Lanka in March.
Yasir is set to meet his elder brother and top seed Aqeel Khan in the Wednesday’s title clash after the latter won the other semi-final against fourth seed Heera Ashiq in contrasting style 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
The organisers have decided to conduct the men’s singles semi-finals and final on the Davis Cup pattern of five sets.
The pair of Khan brothers – Aqeel and Yasir – captured the men’s doubles title by getting the better of the duo of Abid Mushtaq and Usman Rafiq 6-4, 6-1 in the final.
Highly talented and top seed Muzammil Murtaza set a date with second seed Haris Irfanul Haq in the under-18 singles final after winning their agonising semi-finals.
Muzammil, 16, who is Pakistan No 1 in under-18 category for the last two years, overcome third seed Abdal Haider 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 while Haris accounted for fourth seed Sahabzada Mohammad Al i 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Meanwhile, Amin Shafi, Ibrahim Khan and Zain Mohammad won the under-14, under-12 and under-10 titles respectively on the penultimate day.
Curtain falls on the week long event on Wednesday with the men’s singles and remaining finals on card. Modern Club president Dr Abdul Sattar Jaffer will grace the occasion.
Results:
Men’s singles:
Quarter-final: Heera Ashiq bt Haris Irfanul Haq 6-3, 6-2.
Semi-finals: Aqeel Khan bt Heera Ashiq 6-3, 6-1, 6-3
Yasir Khan bt Mohammad Abid Mushtaq 6-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3.
Under-12 singles (final): Ibrahim Khan bt Yahya 8-3.
Under-14 singles (final): Amin Shafi bt Mohammad Dada 6-3, 6-2.
Under-10 singles (final): Zain Mohammad Alibnt Ibrahim Noman 8-1.
Under-16 singles (Semi-finals): Amin Shafi bt Bilal Imran 6-0, 6-1; Nouman Aftab bt Houd Azhar 6-4, 6-2.
Under-18 singles (Semi-finals): Muzammil Murtaza bt Abdal Haider 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Haris Irfanul Haq bt Sahibzada Mohammad Ali 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Men’s doubles (Semi-finals): Aqeel Khan and Yasir Khan bt Muzammil and Mussadar 6-2, 6-4; Abid Mustaq and Usman bt Heera Ashiq and Fiazan Khurram 6-4, 6-0.
Final: Aqeel Khan and Yasir Khan bt Abid Mushtaq and Usman Rafiq 6-4, 6-1.
35 doubles (Semi-finals): Asad Ali Bhagat and Ali Bhagat bt Mohammad Iltifat and Shoaib Anis 6-0, 6-1; Kaleem Ghanchi and Imran Ahmed bt Umair Chawla and Tariq Allahwala 6-4, 6-4.
45 doubles (Semi-finals): Rashid Malik and Imran Ahmed bt Farrukh and Gul Hameed 6-2, 6-2; M Iltifat and Jawaid Iqbal bt Qutub and Zafar Hassan 6-3, 1-6, 12-10.
55 doubles (Semi-finals): Azharuddin and Altaf Husain bt Farooq Khan and Nadeem Hafeez 7-5, 6-2.
(Source: Dawn News)
