KARACHI, Feb 23: National champion Aqeel Khan commenced his campaign on a winning note in Subh-e-Nau National Tennis Championship on Thursday when he outplayed Go Mazhar in the first round at the City Sports Complex tennis courts.

Later, he also went on to win the second round match against Waqas Malik of Lahore in straight sets.

Second seeded Yasir Khan brushed aside Sikandar Hayat in first-round match and defeated Haseeb Yaqoob of Islamabad in the second round. Jalil Khan was awarded a walkover against Abdul Majeed of Hyderabad. He then also won his second-round match against Jibran-ul-Haq of Islamabad in straight sets.

Unseeded Syed Zohair Raza of Pakistan Navy outclassed 7th seed Usman Rafiq in second round. Talha Zubair of Pakistan Navy played well against Ahmed Chaudhry in another second-round match. Ahmed won the first set easily but Talha won the second as well as the third to win the match.

Veteran Davis Cupper Nomi Qamar advanced to next stage by winning his first and second round matches against Hassan Mahmood and Bilal Ahmed respectively.

Maheen Dada emerged taller than her opponent Hajra Nadeem in their first-round match of Ladies Singles.

In another contest, Ayesha Mir extended Neha Khan in an exciting clash. Ayesha won the first set but Neha came back strongly to win the next two sets. Urooj Iltifat defeated Ayesha Mir. Saba Aziz, Sara Mansoor, Iman Qureshi and Hania Naveed will play their matches on Friday.

Meanwhile, Haseeb Yaqoob, Murad Khan, Fahad Mahmood, Go Mazhar and Ahmed Babar won their first round matches in the boys U-18 category. Jalaluddin Babar, Raza Sawani and Dawar Rehan also entered the next round of boys U-14.

Results: Men’s singles (first round): Aqeel Khan bt Go Mazhar 6-0, 6-0, Syed Zohair Raza w/o Adil Kohari, Usman Rafique bt Ahmed Babar 6-3, 6-4, Jalil Khan w/o Abdul Majeed, Faiq Azam bt Fahad Mahmood 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, Nomi Qamar bt Hassan Mahmood 6-3, 6-1, Yasir Khan bt Sikandar Hayat 6-1, 6-1.

Second round: Aqeel Khan bt M. Waqas Malik 6-2, 6-2, Syed Zohair Raza bt Usman Rafique 6-1, 6-1, Ahmed Chaudhry bt Talha Zubair 6-1, 6-7(1-7), 6-1, Jalil Khan bt Jibran-ul-Haq 6-4, 6-4, Heera Ashiq bt Faiq Azam 6-1, 6-0, Sanaullah Khan bt Abdul Rehman 6-3, 6-1, Nomi Qamar bt M. Bilal Ahmed 6-1, 6-3, Yasir Khan bt Haseeb Yaqoob 6-0, 6-0.

Ladies singles (first round): Maheen Dada bt Hajra Nadeem 6-1, 6-0, Neha Khan bt Ayesha Mir 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, Urooj Iltifat bt Robina 6-1, 6-3.

Boys’ U-18 (first round): Haseeb Yaqoob bt M. Bilal Ahmed 6-2, 6-4, Murad Khan bt Jalal-ud-Din Babar 6-0, 6-2, Fahad Mahmood bt Nofil Kaleem 6-4, 6-4, Go Mazhar bt Aqil Shabbir 6-0, 6-4, Ahmed Babar bt Nazif Ahmed 6-1, 6-2.

Boys’ U-14 (first round): Jalal-ud-Din Babar bt Houd Azhar 6-1, 6-2, Mohammad Raza Sawani bt Shazil Malik 6-1, 6-4, Dawar Rehan bt Mustafa Khan 6-0, 6-1.—Agencies