KARACHI, May 3: Country’s top player Aqeel Khan delighted the local fans with his quality of play, brushing aside younger brother Jalil Khan in straight sets to land men’s singles crown in the Essa Lab Open Sindh ranking tennis championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.
Making his appearance after a layoff due to home and away commitments, Aqeel lived up to his billing by getting the better of Jalil 6-4, 6-2. The triumph earned him a winning purse of Rs 25,000 while Jalil received Rs 15,000.
Cash prizes of Rs 100,000 were distributed among winners, runners-up in different age categories. However, in men’s category, the losing semi-finalists and quarter-finals got Rs 6,000 and Rs 2,000 apiece respectively.
Dr. Sabiha Essa, who graced the occasion, gave away the prizes. Dr Farhan Essa was also present.
Talented Talha Zubair Surmawala annexed the juniors’ under-17 title inflicting 6-4, 6-3 defeat on Raza Sawani who also lost the under-15 title losing 1-6, 4-6 to Dawar Rehan in the final.
Zubair Raja, Mohammad Dada and yayha Ehtisham pocketed the under-13, under-11 and under-9 titles respectively.
Final results: Men’s singles: Aqeel Khan bt Jalil Khan 6-4, 6-2.
Juniors’ under-17 singles: Talha Zubair Surmawala bt M. Raza Sawani 6-4, 6-3.
Boys’ and girls’ under-15 singles: Dawar Rehan bt M. Raza Sawani 6-1, 6-4.
Boys’ and girls’ under-13 singles: Zubair Raja bt Bilal Imran 7-5, 3-6, 11-9.
Boys’ and girls’ under-11 singles: Mohammad Dada bt Amin shafi 9-7.
Boys’ and girls’ under-9 singles: Yayha Ehtisham bt Abdullah Khan 8-0.
Thursday’s results: Men’s singles: Quarter-final: Aqeel Khan bt Abdul Rehman 6-2, 6-3
Semi-finals: Aqeel Khan bt Khalid Ali Nazar 6-2, 6-3; Jalil Khan bt Yasir Khan 4-6, 6-3, 10-8.
Juniors’ under-17 singles: Semi-final: Talha Zubair Surmawala bt Murad Khan 6-2, 6-4
Boys and girls under-13 singles: Semi-final: Zubair Raja bt Anub Shafi 6-4, 6-2
Boys and girls under-9 singles: Semi-final: M. Yahya Ehtisham bt M. Ahmed Ahmadani 8-0
Boys and girls under-15 singles: Semi-finals: M. Raza Sawani bt Sahibzada M. Ali 6-2, 6-4; Dawar Reham bt Nazif Ahmed 7-5, 6-2.
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