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| October 11, 2001 | Thursday | Rajab 23, 1422 |
Ashiq eliminates second seed Salman Bashir
LAHORE, Oct 10: Ashiq Rasool caused a major upset by ousting second seed Salman Bashir to enter the quarterfinal of the ITF world junior ranking tennis championship at the Punjab Tennis Association grass courts in Bagh-i-Jinnah Wednesday.
Despite playing against a superior rival, Ashiq showed class and fighting qualities to eventually advance to the last eight with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) triumph.
Ashiq repeatedly caught his illustrrious rival with his sizzling fore and backhand strokes as well as with deft placements.
Salman, who had tamely lost the final of the last ITF junior tournament at the same venue last week, to top seed Shahzad Khan was off colour against the spirited Ashiq
The first set started on an exciting note as both lost their first serves. Salman broke Ashiq in the fifth game and held his own in the next to gain 4-2 lead. But Ashiq roared back. He broke got the service break twice and kept his own to take the first set 6-4.
Both players gave nothing away in the second set and were locked 6-6 to take the set into tie-breaker. Ashiq back to his best just dropped two games on his way to clinching the set 7-2 and with it ended Salman’s hopes of making further progress in the competition.
Top seed Shahzad Khan, however, met with little resistance as he stormed into the last eight stage as he overwhelmed a bemused and hapless Mohammad Nadeem 6-2, 6-2.
Nadeem’s one brief moment of glory came in the first two games of the first set when he broke Shahzad and held his own to take an unexpected 2-0 lead. Shahzad showing no nerves shrugged off the early jitters as he reeled off six successive games to grab the first set.
In the second set, Nadeem could only hold his serves twice in the 1st and seventh game as Shahzad now in total command completed won the set by the same 6-2 score.
Gulzeb Niazi and his younger brother Shahrukh Niazi also entered the quarterfinals with impressive victories over their rivals. Gulzeb outlasted Nisar Mahir 7-5, 6-2 while Shahrukh Niazi rolled over an outclassed Zasheer Haral 6-1, 6-0.
In other pre-quarterfinals, Kumail Husain Rizvi faced no opposition from Danish Ahmad before winning 6-1,6-1, Muteeb Pasha outgunned Latif Omer 6-1, 6-0, Wasim Cheema overpowered Munir Ashiq 6-1, 6-4 and Jan Nisar Ahmed toppled Imran Rasool 6-2, 6-4 to to advance to the quarterfinals.
Only two matches, out of total four carded for Wednesday, were played on the opening day of the girls’ singles. In other two matches Sana Mushtaq and Shafaq Naeem got walkovers against Zainab Riaz and Ayesha Noon, respectively.
Saira Zeb Babri outplayed Anza Waheed 6-2, 6-4.
Rabia Khan outwitted Sobia Anwar 6-3, 6-2.
In the boys’ doubles, four matches were decided and winners qualified for the semifinals.
Top seeds Shahzad Khan and Ashiq Munir outplayed Sohail Khan-Danial Butt 6-1, 6-1, Mohammad Nadeem and S. Kumail Rizvi downed Omer Qayyum and Said Khan 6-4, 6-2, Babar Ali and Ashiq Rasul crushed Suleman Bashir and Ahmad 6-2, 6-2; Shahbaz and Shahrukh Niazi dumped Muteeb Pasha and Imran Rasul 7-5, 6-4.
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