Aqeel, Yasir clinch men’s doubles title

Beat Baloch, Qazi in Karachi’s tennis event.

KARACHI: Aqeel Khan and brother Yasir Khan clinched the men’s doubles title of the UBL International Hardcourt Tennis Championship after defeating Saad Baloch and Umer Qazi 6-2, 7-6 in the final held at the Karachi Gymkhana yesterday.

The top seeds faced little trouble as they clinched the first set before Baloch and Qazi hit back to take the second to a tie-break. However, the pair showed why they were seeded higher as they took the second set to win the title.

Meanwhile, Syed Zohair Raza won the boys under-18 singles title after Adil Kohari retired, trailing 5-0 in the final. After a dominant start to the match, Raza was awarded the match with Kohari going down with an elbow injury to bring a premature end to the final.

Aziz wins women’s singles event

It was a battle between the Sindh’s top seeds as Saba Aziz downed Maheen Dada in a one-sided final 6-0, 6-0 to win the women’s singles title of the tournament. Davis Cuppers Rashid Malik and Hamidul Haq teamed up in the men’s veteran doubles final and defeated Nauman Aleem and Imran Ahmed 6-2, 6-1 to lift the trophy.

Aqeel and Aziz also won the mixed doubles event, beating Abid Mushtaq and Dada 6-4, 6-1

The tournament will conclude today with Pakistan number one Aqeel taking on Abid Mushtaq, who beat Yasir in the last-four encounter, in the men’s singles final.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2011.