LAHORE: All the seeded players of the country advanced to the next round of the Servis Punjab Tennis Championship here at the Bagh-e-Jinnah Courts on Friday. National singles and junior champion Samir Iftikhar, junior Davis Cupper Faizan Khurrum and Pakistan’s non-playing captain Rashid Malik won their matches.
Samir and Faizan clinched their under-18 and men’s games while Malik won in the open category. All the seeded players have now reached the pre-quarterfinals stage of the championship. On Friday, as many as 16 matches were played and on Saturday matches in under-12, under-14 and ladies category will be played.
Sara Mahboob is the top favourite in the ladies category after national champion Ushna Suhail failed to reach the city due to delay in her flight from Rwanda, Africa, where she was playing in ITF competitions. However, Sara would find tough competitions from Saba Aziz, Anoosha Aslam and Amara Qureshi. These young ladies have the capacity to spring surprise when the ladies event gets into full swing.
