Bilal, Noor clinch National Servis Tennis titles

LAHORE: Mian Bilal and ZTBL’s Noor Malik annexed the men’s and ladies singles titles in the Servis Tyres Junior National Ranking Tennis Championship 2020 that ended here at PLTA courts Bagh-i-Jinnah on Tuesday.

In the men’s singles thrilling final (Punjab Ranking), Mian Bilal was up against Faizan Fayyaz and both the players displayed outstanding tennis skills and techniques and matched fire-with-fire till the end, and after a tough battle, Mian Bilal emerged as title winner.

Bilal started the final at a high pace and put Faizan under tremendous pressure right from the beginning, which helped him win the first set 6-2.Faizan, who is also known as tough fighter, showed his stamina and skills in the second set and fought well against Bilal, making it 5-all. After that, Faizan started playing aggressive tennis and outpaced his opponent to win the set 7-5. In the super tie break, high-level tennis was witnessed once again as both the finalists amused the spectators with their superb shots and long rallies and equalized the score at 8-all. At that stage, it was anyone’s final, but Mian Bilal held nerves and played skillfully to win the decisive set 10-8, thus grabbed the men’s singles title.

The ladies singles final (Punjab Ranking) also proved to be a nail-biting encounter, where both Noor Malik and Esha Jawad played out their hearts and kept on fighting till the end, and in the super tie break, Noor overcame spirited Esha to win the ladies title. Esha started the final well and won the first set 7-5. Noor then made a strong comeback and won the second set 6-2 and in the super tie break, both the players competed well and it was 7-all, but after that, Noor changed the gear and started playing aggressive game to win the decisive set 10-7, thus clinched the ladies singles title. The boys U-18 final was won by Faizan Fayyaz, who was up against Ahtesham Arif and outlasted his opponent 6-1, 6-4 for the title. The boys U-18 doubles title went to Zain Ul Abideen and Ifham Rana, who overcame vigorous pair of Ahtesham Arif and Hamza Jawad 3-6, 7-6, 10-7. Zahra Suleman outperformed Labika Durab 6-2, 6-3 to claim the girls U-16 title.

Bilal Asim then played out superb tennis and succeeded in winning the double crowns as first he beat Abdul Hanan Khan 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 in the boys U-16 final to lift the title and then he outpaced Ahmad Nael 6-1, 6-3 for the boys U-14 title. In boys/girls U-12 doubles final, Abubakar/Haniya beat Husnain/Hamza 2-4, 4-1, 10-4 for the title. In boys/girls U-12 final, Hussnain Ali Rizwan emerged as title winner as he defeated upcoming Haniya Minhas 5-3, 4-1 while the boys/girls U-10 title was claimed by promising Haniya Minhas, who defeated Hamza Ali Rizwan 5-4, 4-5, 10-5.

Chaudhry Arif Saeed, CEO Servis Tyres Ltd, who was the chief guest at the finals, gave away the prizes among the position-holders.Also present on the occasion were PLTA Secretary Rashid Malik and chief referee Faheem Siddqiui.