Raul Lucas created a ripple when he knocked off Khalid Al Thawadi of Bahrain in the qualifying round of the 12th Aviation Cup tennis tournament at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Lucas was stretched to the full by the 14th seeded player from Bahrain till the coach from Dubai triumphed 6-1, 6-7, 7-6.

UAE's challenge in the qualifying round ended when Ali Sheriff went out in a daze losing 0-6, 1-6 to second seed Essam Abdulaal of Bahrain.

Sheriff was the last of five UAE players who had participated in the tournament scheduled to commence from today at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Another interesting match which went on till late in the evening was the one between S. Baburian and David Haddad, with Baburian going down 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fifth seeded Omar Ahmed of Bahrain had to contend over three sets with Frenchman Yvan Jacqueline before registering a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory. Another engrossing encounter was when Vijay Das scalped Yousef Abdul Nabi of Bahrain 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

The tournament, which has been sponsored by Dubai Duty Free, has a total prizemoney of Dh74,000.

Results
Raul Lucas bt Khalid Al Thawadi 6-1, 6-7, 7-6; Essam Abdulaal bt Ali Sheriff 6-1, 6-0; Mudrik Al Rawahi bt Wael Chemi 4-6, 7-6, 6-4; David Haddad bt S Baburian 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Abraham Ibrahim bt Tariq Khan 6-1, 6-4; Mohammed Abdul Latif bt Remy Bouyer 6-1, 6-1; Ashkan Shahgoli bt Ali Reza Khavani 6-2, 6-0; Saeed Akbar bt A Shankar 6-0, 6-; Vijay Das bt Yousef Abdul Nabi 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Attia Bayoumi w/o Korosh Hashemian; Sander Groen bt Pravin Anthony 6-3, 6-0; Omar Ahmed bt Yvan Jacqueline 3-6, 6-4, 7-6; Jean Francois Danican bt Jimmy Poon 6-2, 6-0; Michael Maksoudian bt Eric Gottschalk 6-2, 7-6.