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| October 25, 2002 | Friday | Sha’aban 18,1423 |
Unseeded Sana upsets Seher to reach semifinal
KARACHI, Oct. 24: Unseeded Sana Bhagat sprung a mild surprise, when she sent fourth seed Seher Khwaja packing, in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Sixth UBL Salma Noorani Tennis Ranking Championship at the Karachi Club Thursday.
Sana, a former Pakistan No.4, who represented the country in the Federation Cup in Thailand two years ago, disappeared from the tennis circuit due to injury.
Making her first appearance in a tournament after that setback, Sana has done herself proud by reaching the semifinals, but not before being fully stretched by the bespectacled Seher.
Breaking her opponent’s service in the opening set Sana ran up a 3-0 lead, only to see Seher get her act together and level the scores 3-3. From there the two ladies went neck and neck until Sana broke Seher’s service to forge ahead 6-5. Seher fighting back returned the compliment to level the scores again at 6-6 and force the set into a tie breaker with Sana committing too many unforced errors.
In the tie breaker Seher took a comfortable 3-0 lead, which increased to 4-2, before Sana caught up at 4-4 and then pinched the first set 7-4.
The next set was a repeat of the first, with both players refusing to budge an inch. The two raced along neck and neck, till 5-5, until Sana finally prevailed, taking the next two points to win the set 7-5.
Sana will now take on top seed Marium Rahim in the semifinal Friday. Marium had little difficulty in disposing off Marium Khawar 6-2, 6-0 and was later joined in the semifinals by younger sister Nida, who beat Zarmeen 6-3, 6-2.
But Nida’s twin sister Maria failed to join her other two sisters in the last four, beaten by second Nausheen Ehtesham 6-2, 6-1.
Nausheen is the mother of Pakistan Davis Cupper Aisamul Haq. A former Pakistan No.1, Nausheen is still a force to reckon with her powerful forehands.
The men’s singles however was quite a farce. After top seed Aqeel Khan brushed aside eighth seed Jalil Khan 6-4, 6-3, third seed Rashid Malik retired from the match leading 5-1 against Shahzad Samad in the third set and serving for the match at 40-30.
Playing attacking tennis, Rashid took the first set 6-3, but surrendered the next by an identical margin. Continuing to pile on the points in the final frame Rashid leading 5-1 and needing a point to wrap up the match with service in hand, surprised everyone watching the match by surrendering the game to Shahzad.
Then fourth seed Shahid Khan after winning the first set 6-4 against his younger brother and sixth seed Shehzad Khan, decided to call it a day.
Unseeded Khalid Ali Nazar’s dream run finally came to an end, when he went down to second seed Nomi Qamar 6-3, 6-2.
Junior champion Shahzad booked his place in the semifinals after overcoming of Wasif Cheema 7-6, 6-3. Joining Shahzad was Haris Iltifat who upset fourth seed Tanveer Ashiq 6-2, 7-5.
But Tanveer had his measure of revenge in the Boys under-14 competition. After beating Shahrukh 7-5, 6-4, in his quarterfinal encounter, Tanveer came back strongly after dropping the first set to beat Haris 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 booking his place in the final.
In the Men’s Doubles event played under floodlights, fourth seeds Jalil Khan and Shafiq, accounted for Wasif Cheema and Shehzad Khan 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Following were the results: Men’s Singles (Quarterfinals) Aqeel Khan bt Jalil Khan 6-4, 6-3. Shahzad Samad bt Rashid Malik 3-6, 6-3, 1-5 (retired). Nomi Qamar bt Khalid Ali Nazar 6-3, 6-2. Shehzad Khan bt Shahid Khan 4-6 (retired).
Women’s singles (Quarterfinals)
Nausheed Ehtesham bt Maria Rahim 6-2, 6-1. Marium Rahim bt Marium Khawar 6-2, 6-0. Nida Rahim bt Zarmeen 6-3, 6-2. Sana Bhagat bt Sehar Khwaja 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
Junior singles (Quarterfinals)
Shahzad Khan bt Wasif Cheema 7-6, 6-3. Haris Iltifat bt Tanveer Ashiq 6-2, 7-5.
Boys singles (Quarterfinal)
Tanveer Ashiq bt Shahrukh 7-5, 6-4.
Semifinals
Tanveer Ashiq bt Haris Iltifat 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.
Men’s doubles
Jalil Khan & Shafiq bt Wasif Cheema & Shehzad Khan 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
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