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| November 9, 2001 | Friday | Shaba’an 22, 1422 |
Hasan stretches Tahir to limit
KARACHI Nov 8: Fourth seeded Davis Cupper Tahir Iftikhar survived against lefthanded Hasan Mahmood in a closely fought three set battle before reaching the men’s singles semifinals of the fifth UBL Salma Noorani Tennis Tournament here on Thursday at the Karachi club hardcourt.
Tahir was a set down when he staged a great fight back to overcome tenth seed Hasan Mahmood 4-6,6-2,7-5 to be in the last four where he faces top seeded defending champion Aqeel Khan who had the better former national grasscourt and hardcourt champion Rashid Malik 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in a well-contested match.
Asim Shafik, seeded second to meet Aqeel khan for the Sunday title battle, carved out an effortless 6-0,6-1 victory against Faisalabad’s Shahzad Khan who has recently won the national grasscourt junior title and also two ITF tournaments in Lahore.
Third seed Nomi Qamar, as expected, moved into the men’s singles semifinals eliminating fighting Aurangzeb 7-5,7-5 mostly in baseline dual.
The Tahir - Hasan marathon encounter lasted two hours and ten minutes and it produced several thrilling rallies. Both played mostly from the baseline and pressed each other backhands with powerful drives to cash in on each others mistkes. It was 4-all in the first set as both held their serves before Hasan broke Tahir serve for a 6—4 win
Tahir accelerated the pace of the game in the secnd set and with a series of forehand winners took a commanding 4-1 lead for a 6-2 victory as Hasan became erratic.
Hasan hit a brace of winners to make an early break in the decisive third set for a 4-2 lead as Tahir committed unforced errors. However, Tahir steadied his game and his ground strokes functioned effectively and the Davis Cupper broke back to be 5-5 and held his own serve for 6-5 lead. Hasan lost his serve as his returns went out of court or in the net and Tahir was victor 7-5.
Unseeded Nida Rahim caused an upset when she defeted fourth seed Zarmeen 6-1,6-2 to qualify for the women s singles semifinals. Mehvish Chishtie, the top seed, second seed Marium Rahim and third seed Nausheen Iftikhr all were through to lst four by defeating their opponents.
Following were results
Men’s singles (Quarterfinals ) Asim Shafik bt Shahzad Khan 6-0,6-1, Nomi Qamar bt Aurangzeb 7-5,7-5, Tahir Iftikhar bt Hasan Mahmood 4-6,6-2,7-5, Aqeel khan bt Rashid Malik 7-6(7-3 ),6-4.
Boys (Under-14 ) singles (Q-finals );Danish Ahmed bt Jahangir A.Rashid 6-0,6-1, Kumail Husain bt Khurram Nazir 6-0,6-0, Yasir khan bt Hammad Shoiab 6-1,6-2, Haris Iltifat bt Abdus Samad 6-1,6-2
Women s singles (Q-finals); Nida Rahim bt Zarmeen 6-1,6-2, Marium Rahim bt Fatima Hai 6-1, 6-1
Wednesday night remaining results; Nausheen Ehtisham bt Shiza 6-3,6-2, Mehvish Chishtie bt Sana Bhagat 6-4,6-4.
Men singles (Pre-quarterfinals - Wednesday night results )
Aurngzeb bt Mohammad Shafiq 6-1,6-3, Shahid khan bt Akbar Pataudi 6-1,6-4.
Men s doubles; (Ist round-Wednesday night results )
Aqeel Khan- Tahir Iftikhar w/o Hasan Baig- Hassan Baig, Eyhab Burki - khalid A.Nazar bt Saqib Shahid - Sajid Hassan 6- 1,6-0, Shahid Khan- Hassan bt Mahir Nisar - M.Z. Khattak 6-1,6-1, Farhan Bandukta - Sher Rehman w/o S.M.Kamran - Mujibullah, Asif -Yaqoob w/o Fahim - Shahzad khan, Saleem -Jehanzeb w/o Faisal Anwar -Aasim Javed ,Ali Hassan - Jalil khan bt Inam Gul - Inamullah 3-6 ,6-3,7-6 (7-3 ), Ahmed Hussain- Babar Ali khan bt Akbar Hayat-Adnan khan 6-2,6-2, Taimur Iftikhar - A.Majeed w/o Muteeb Pasha - M.Manzar, Nomi Qamar - Aurangzeb w/o Saad Baloch - Samad Baloch, Asad Ali Bhagat - Altaf Hussain w/o Amir khan - Adnan Khan, Waqar Nisar -Shahid bt Naeem Asad - Saeed Shahab 6-1,7-6 (7-2 ), Rashid Malik - Asim Shafik bt Danish Ahmed- Ather Iltifat 6-1,6- 0
FRIDAY’S FIXTURES; Boys singles (Semifinals ) 2pm, men’s singles (Semifinals ) 3pm, junior singles (Semifinals ) 3pm, Women’s singles (Semifinals) 5pm, men’s doubles (Quarterfinals ) 6pm.
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