Aqeel, Samir and Abid win opening matches

Trio participating in ITF F39 Futures events in Turkey

KARACHI: The Pakistan trio of Aqeel Khan, Samir Iftikhar and Abid Ali Akbar began their campaign at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Turkey F39 Futures events on a winning note.

The Davis Cup team members stayed back in Turkey after winning their final Group II Asia-Oceania Zone tie against Chinese Taipei 3-2 on September 18.

In their second ITF Futures tournament outing, Aqeel Khan defeated Israel’s Alon Elia 7-5, 6-4, while Samir outplayed sixth-seeded Ukrainian Vadim Alekseenko 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

On the other hand, Abid outclassed local player Fatih Taha Erun 6-0, 6-0 in his opening match of the tournament.

Aqeel and Abid had also reached the doubles quarter-finals of the Turkey F38 Futures doubles event last week. They lost to Russia’s Kirill Dmitriev and Andrei Plotniy 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in their first outing at the ITF events in Turkey.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.