November 11, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 24, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Nov 10: Second seeded Inam Gul staged a stunning comebck to earn a revengeful victory after his two successive defeats by overcoming top seed Shahzad Khan to claim the junior (Under-18 ) singles title of the fifth UBL Salma Noorani tennis tournment Saturday at the Karachi Club hardcourt

Peshawar’s talented Inam Gul had suffered two consecutive defeats at the hands of promising Shahzad from Faisalabad in the juniors finals of the Federal Cup at Islamabad and National Grasscourt Championships in Lahore but in Karachi he won the three-set marathon battle 6-7 (2-7 ), 6-1,6- 3,6-3.

The almost two hours battle fought by the promising juniors produced several fine rallies but both Inam Gul and Shahzad committed numerous unforced errors.

Shahzad, who had won the two ITF tounaments at Lahore in which Inam Gul could not compete, after taking the first set at tie breaker 7-6 ( 7-2 ) committed a series of unforced errors as Inam unleashed a series of fierce groundstrokes.

Inam displayed a more disciplined game to control the second set by mixing up length and direction. He fired aces and hammered forehand drives down the line against Shahzad for a 6-1 success to force the match into the third set.

Inspired by run-away second set victory, Inam played more skillfuly and to virtually outmanoeuvred Shahzad, struggling to regain his rhythm and touch but committing unforced errors. Inam maintained his domination in the decisive third set to clinch the set and final 6-3

Lahore’s fourth seed Kumail Hassan had to work hard against fighting sixth seeded Yasir Khan of Karachi before winning the boys (Under-14 ) singles final, lasting over two hours. Kumail triumphed 7-5,4-6,6-3

Top seeded Marium Rahim retained the women’s singles title as Mehwish Chishtie conceeded the match as she was troubled by cramps. Marium took the first set 6-1 with a brace of forehand and backhand winners before Mehwish, the winner of Federal Cup and the National Grasscourt Championships, conceded the match

Asim Shafik and Rashid Malik combined well to record a 6-3,2-6,6-4 victory over Aqeel Khan and Tahir Iftikhar to capture the men doubles title.

Sunday’s fixture: Men’s singles final: Aqeel Khan vs Asim Shafik, 4pm.