ISLAMABAD: Former national champion Mahvish Chishtie showed glimpses of the past when she defeated fifth seed Khunsha Babar in a thrilling match of the ladies singles in the Subh-e-Nau National Clay Court Tennis Championship 2017 here at the PTF Complex on Wednesday.

Mahvish, now a mother of two, left the national tennis circuit way back in 2005 after representing Pakistan many times in the Federation Cup and the Islamic Games with aplomb and winning other laurels for the country.

However, in the ladies singles second round match on Wednesday, brilliant Mahvish matched young Khunsha stroke for stroke in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Mahvish won the match 7-5, 7-5 and will now meet hugely talented Ushna Suhail in the quarterfinal stage of the category on Thursday. Ushna defeated Shahida Badshah in a lop-sided contest to advance to the quarters.

Meanwhile, Sara Mansoor, Shimza Tahir, Sara Kiani, Alina Aftab, Esha Jawad and Sara Mahboob also won their respective matches and moved into the quarterfinals of the ladies singles.

In the mens quarter-finals, fifth seed Muzammil Murtaza stunned third seed Heera Ashiq after a hard fought contest. Muzammil of Jahanian displayed fine skills and energy against his senior opponent to win the first set despite losing three games. But Heera came back strongly and clinched the second set without losing a single game.

However, the decisive set went to Muzammil who never lost his focus and played aggressive tennis to beat Heera. He will now play against M. Abid in the semifinal on Thursday. Abid, the second seed, defeated Muzammil’s brother Mudassar in yet another well contested match of the day.

Though Abid had lost the first set to his seventh-seeded opponent, he kept his nerves to win the remaining two sets and the match.

On the other hand, top seed Aqeel Khan continued his journey towards another title with an easy victory against Usman Rafique. Aqeel will be up against Ahmed Chaudhry in the semifinal who won his match against Abdal Haider.

Meanwhile, the pair of Aqeel Khan and Heera Ashiq moved to the semifinals of Men’s Doubles with their victory over the pair of Malik Abdul Rehman and Ahmed Babar. In the other doubles quarters, brothers Muzammil and Mudassir duo also registered a fine win over Yousuf Khan-Saqib Umar 6-3, 7-5.

On Thursday, the semifinals of men’s singles, men’s doubles and boys under-18 will be played besides the quarterfinals of ladies singles and boys under-14.

Results:

Men’s Singles (Quarterfinals): Aqeel Khan bt Usman Rafique 6-0, 6-2, Ahmed Ch bt Abdal Haider 6-3, 6-4, Muzammil Murtaza bt Heera Ashiq 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, M. Abid bt Mudassir Murtaza 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Boys U-18 (Quarterfinals): Yousuf Khan bt Ahmed Asjad 6-1, 6-4 M. Shoaib bt Aqib Umer 6-4, 6-2 Huzaifa Abdul Rehman walkover Hamza bin Rehan, Saqib Umar bt Sami Zeb 6-2, 6-2.

Ladies Singles (2nd round): Sara Mansoor bt Sana Rauf 6-0, 6-0, Shimza Tahir bt Saman 6-1, 6-0, Sara Kiani bt Bakhtawar 6-2, 6-0, Alina Aftab bt Mahnoor Sohail 6-1, 6-0, Esha Jawad bt Hina Urooj 6-0, 6-1, Mahvish Chishtie bt Khunsha Babar 7-5, 7-5, Ushna Suhail bt Shahida Badshah 6-0, 6-0, Sara Mahboob bt Sana Khan 6-0, 6-0.

Boys U-14 (2nd round): Sami Zaib bt M. Zaryab Khan 4-2, 4-1, M. Talha Khan bt Shael Tahir 2-4, 4-2, 4-2, Hamza Roman bt Kamran Khan 4-2, 4-2, Abdul Samad bt Faiz-ul-Rehman 4-0, 4-0, M. Huzaifa Khan bt Kashan Umar 1-4, 4-1, 4-0, Uzair Khan bt Abdul Hannan 5-3, 5-3, Zalan Khan bt Hassam Khan 5-3, 2-4, 4-2, Hameed Israr bt M. Hamza Asim 4-0, 4-2.

Men’s Doubles (Quarterfinals): Aqeel Khan/Heera Ashiq bt Ahmed Babar/Malik Abdul Rehman 6-4, 6-2, Muzammil Murtaza/Mudassir Murtaza bt Yousuf Khan/Saqib Umar 6-3, 7-5, Abdal Haider/Ahmed Ch bt Ejaz Khan/Abbas Khan 7-6(4), 6-0, M. Abid/Usman Rafique bt Zaryab Pirzada/Mian Bilal 6-2, 6-2.

U-10 (2nd round): Zara Khan walkover Hamza Roman, Jamal Shah bt Aamer Masood 2-4, 4-2, 4-2, M. Moeez bt Fatima Ali Raja 4-0, 4-0, Abdullah Azhar bt Zainab Ali Raja 4-1, 4-1, Sameer Maqsood bt Uzair Maqsood 4-0, 4-0, Hamad Shah walkover Ahmed Abdul, Abdul Hannan walkover Asjad, Ahtesham Humayun bt Esha Sheikh 4-0, 4-0.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2017