Faisal
ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Shoaib notched the Men’s Singles title of the 8th Benazir Bhutto National Tennis Championship after overcoming Muzammil Murtaza 2-1 in the final here at Islamabad Tennis Complex on Sunday.
In the men’s singles, Mohammad Shoaib and Muzammil Murtaza started the final with powerful strokes and classic drop shots, as both players broke the services twice until the first set went up at 6-6. Muzammil missed a set point when he was ahead at 6-5 and the 11th game saw four deuced, as Shoaib won the game and 12th too to win the set at 7-5.
After going down, 0-1, Muzammil changed the shirt and tactics too. He showed his peak form and played bravely, as his opponent Mohammad Shaoib made some unforced errors and many times hit the ball in the net. Muzammil finished the game 6-1 to bounce back into the match. In the final set, Mohammad Shaoib was looking careful and did not go on finishing. The third set was leveled at 4-4, at this stage Mohammad Shoaib broke the serve of his opponent and held his own serve to end the match with the score-line of 7-5, 1-6, and 6-4.
Earlier, in the women’s final, top seed Sarah Mehbood quashed Esha Javed 2-0 in straight sets, as she conceded only a single game during the two sets.
Results (finals):
Men’s Singles: Mohammad Shoaib beat Muzamil Murtaza 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
Ladies’ Singles: Sarah Mehboob beat Esha Javad 6-0, 6-1
Boys’ Under-12 Single: Hassan Usmani beat Shayan Afridi 2-4, 5-3, 4-2
Under-10 Single: Shayan Afridi beat Hajra 4-1, 4-2
Senior 45 Doubles: Azeem Khan/Mehmood Khan beat Israr Gul/Rashid Malik 5-7, 6-1, 10-7
