LAHORE: Pakistan’s future hope Samir Iftikhar displayed top class tennis to oust experienced former national champion Rashid Malik in an exciting final to clinch the Servis Cup Punjab Tennis Tournament here at the Bagh-e-Jinnah Courts on Wednesday.
Samir entertained a large crowd and tennis enthusiasts who especially came to the venue to witness the duel between experience and youth and in the end youth prevailed quite convincingly. Samir won 6-1, 6-4.
Playing in front of his mentor and Pakistan tennis star Aisamul Haq, Samir displayed long base-line rallies, retrieving impossible shots and sizzling passing shots.
On the other hand, veteran Malik despite having cramps to his left leg, played for two-and-a-half hours and on a few occasions came close to levelling the match. But Samir played intelligently and broke Malik in the third and fifth game winning 6-1.
Rashid Came back strongly and broke Samir in the second game to lead three-love. But it was not Malik’s day as Samir fought back and broke into lead. He then broke again in the 7th game to lead 4-3.
Malik played some great return of serves to break back for four games each. But Samir used his world circuit experience when by rushing to the net to lead 5-4, he held his serve with aces to win the second set and the match 6-4.
Earlier in the day, Sara Mahboob played a three-hour long marathon to overcome Saba Aziz. Their match started at 1 pm and concluded after three sets at 4 pm with Sara winning the Punjab ladies singles title after going down by one set.
Sara struggled to get hold of her game in the opening set but once she was in control, she won a tie-breaker 7-6. But Saba played much superior game in the second set by using cross court shots to win by an identical score of 7-6. However, by the time these young ladies entered their third set, Saba was visibly exhausted despite the chilly weather and experienced Sara took full advantage of the conditions and won the third and final set 6-3.
Later in the day, Heera Ashid won the boys under-18 title beating his Davis Cup team-mate Faizan Khurrun.
Arham Atiq Khan of Gujranwala beat fighting Zaid Mujahid of Sahiwal to win the under-14 boys title.
Hafiz Arbab Ali clinched under-12 boy’s event when he beat Adbal Haider with ease while Sahabzada Mohammad Ali turned out to be the champion in under-10 boys category when he beat Hissan Ali.
Results (finals)
Men’s singles: Samir Iftikhar beat Rashid Malik 6-1, 6-4.
Ladies singles: Sara Mahboob beat Saba Aziz 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
Men’s doubles: Mohammad Abid and Usman Rafiq beat Faizan Khurrum and Samir Iftikhar.
Under-18 boys: Heera Ashiq beat Faizan Khurrum 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.
Under-14 boys: Arham Atiq Khan (Gujranwala) beat Zaid Mujahid (Sahiwal) 6-1, 7-5.
Under-12 boys: Hafiz Arbab Ali beat Adbal Haider 6-3, 6-3.
Under-10 boys: Sahabzada Mohammad Ali beat Hissan Ali 6-3.
Super Samir surmounts Malik challenge in style
