LAHORE: The 6th Hassan Tariq Rahim National Ranking Tennis Championship is indeed a joy to have professional tennis at Lahore Gymkhana tennis courts and the ongoing tennis event can take comfort from the fact that it has brought to the fore some astute and buoyant young ones who look skillful,talented and gifted and are likely to become an agreeable batch of tennis professionals speedily.After the great scare caused by the COVID pandemic,it became apparent how much it meant to the sport to have meaningful tennis.The presence of tennis international Aisamul Haq Qureshi and champions like Aqeel Khan, Mohammad Abid, Muhammad Shoaib and Yousaf Khalil generated a lot of intensity that will leave behind not only memories of the exalted and illustrious Hassan Tariq Rahim but championship related recollections that tennis enthusiasts will never forget. The event on Friday was boys centered and through exhibition of flair oriented diligent play the boys remained under spotlight during the course of their quarterfinals and semifinals.Leading lustrous ones turned out to be Abdullah Adnan and Sami Zeb who qualified to face each other in the final after meritorious ascendancy over their adversaries.In the first semifinal, Abdullah Adnan beat Hasheesh Kumar 3-6,6-4 and 6-3 and what cheers he received from the ardent ones of tennis.As for Sami Zeb, he too played steadfastly and unwaveringly and looking compact and sturdy he defeated Hamid Israr 6-0,6-2. In the men’s doubles, AisamHaq and Aqeel made their way to the final and will be up against the pair of Abid and Waqas Malik. Once again Aisam delighted the tennis fans with his adroitness,ability and prowess.Pace of play was mercurial.Wholesome recreation was served in the battle of sexes match between 53 years old Khurram Imtiaz and Pakistan number one lady player Sarah Mehboob. And the audience included prominent ones like Khawaja Tariq Rahim, Rashid Rehman, Khawaja Iftikhar, Khawaja Khurram, Sarmad Nadeem, Wajid Aziz and Khalid Ikram. That Sarah prevailed over the seasoned Khurram sent a wave of ecstasy among tennis playing mates of Khurram. The men’s singles semifinals will be contested on Saturday (today).