LAHORE – Unseeded Barkat Ullah stunned second seeded Muzammil Murtaza in the SA Gardens Pakistan Open Tennis Championships 2021 men’s singles quarterfinal played here at the PLTA Courts on Thursday.
Barkat Ullah, who is though unseeded player yet a very dedicated and hardworking one, played tremendous tennis against Muzammil Murtaza, who recently represented Pakistan in Davis Cup tie against Japan, and recorded an upset victory against the second seeded player with a score of 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Barkat started well against Muzammil, putting him under pressure and winning the first set 6-4.
Muzammil bounced back strongly in the second set and comfortably won it 6-1 but in the third and decisive set, it was once again Barkat Ullah, who matched fire-with-fire till the end and held his nerves in the dying moments of the match to win the set 7-5, thus registered a well-deserving victory against Muzammil.
In other quarterfinals of the day, top seed Aqeel Khan brushed aside Mudassar Murtaza 6-3, 6-2, M Shoaib faced some resistance from Yousaf Khalil before winning the encounter 7-5, 6-1 and M Abid displayed quality tennis against seasoned campaigner Heera Ashiq and outpaced him 6-3, 6-2. In the men’s doubles, Aqeel/Ahmad beat Hassan/Fayyaz 6-2, 6-0, Imran Bhatti (Gymkhana)/Ahmad beat Asad/Ejaz 6-4, 6-3, Aqib/Syed Nofil beat Nauman/Illham Khan 6-2, 6-2, Barkat/Shoaib beat Omer/Khurram 6-3, 6-1, Shakir Ullah/Tahir Ullah beat Kamil/Faizan 6-1, 6-1, Yousaf/Heera beat Noumam/Asjad 6-0, 6-3.
In the boys U-18, Farman Shakeel beat Uzair Khan 6-3, 6-1, Faizan Fayyaz beat Bakir Ali 6-1, 6-2, Hamid Israr beat Azan Sajid 6-0, 6-2, Nalain Abbas beat Shehryar Anees 6-0, 6-1, Hassam Khan beat Ahtesham Arif 4-6, 7-6, 10-6, Zalan Khan beat Ahmad Nael 7-5, 6-0, Hashessh Kumar beat Bilal Asim 6-2, 6-1, Mahatir Muhammad beat M Huazifa Khan 6-3, 6-3. In boys U-18 doubles, Farman/Nalain beat Shaeel/Hassan 4-2, 4-2, Bilal/Faizan beat Arif/Hamza 6-2, 6-0, Hasheesh/Mahatir beat Huzaifa/Talha 4-1, 2-4, 10-3 and Zalan/Hamid beat Nael/Uzair 4-2, 4-2.
In the boys U-14, Haider Ali Rizwan beat Eesa Fahd 4-0, 4-0, Ameer Mazari beat Moavia Butt 4-1, 4-0, Ahtesham Humayun beat Omer Jawad 4-0, 4-0 and Hamza Ali Rizwan beat Husnain Ali Rizwan 4-0, 4-1. In seniors 40 plus doubles, Shakeel/Israr beat Kamran/Shahdab 6-1, 6-1 and Fayyaz/Arif Beat Tanvir/Bilal 6-3, 6-1.
