KARACHI, July 15: Ali Asgher Bandeali bulldozed his way into the final of the boys under-15 Pakistan Open tennis championship, coming in from behind to upset Hyderabad's Talha Dar 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, in the semifinal played on Thursday at the hard courts of the Karachi Club.

After breezing through the first set 6-1, Ali was in for a rude shock when Talha attacking from both flanks levelled the match scores 1-1, pinching the second set 6-1. With nerves stretched to the limit in the final set, Talha seemed to be on the road to victory leading 4-1. But with his large band of supporters cheering him on, Ali came storming back to take the final set 6-4.

Joining Ali in the final was Khurram Nazir, who finally overcame the fighting abilities of Nasir Mushtaq in three hard fought sets. Cashing in on his powerful service and double fisted cross court smashes, Nasir won the opening set 6-2.

But getting his act together, Khurram forced Nasir into many unforced errors and scoring points with his service, grabbed the next two sets 6-2, 6-2, to book a place for himself in Friday's final.

Ghulam Abbas Panju made a triumphant entry into the toys singles under-13 final, when he smothered Zarrukh Baig 6-1, 6-1. Also making his way to the final round was top seed Hera Ashiq from Lahore, who came through a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Zain Salim Mania.

Teaming together in the boys doubles under 15 semifinals, Ghulam Hussain Panju and Nasir Mushtaq upset the ranking pair of Hera Ashiq and Fahad Ali in a match that went the full distance.

Ghulam and Nasir were indeed a happy pair when they bagged the first set 6-4, but the third seeds from Lahore fighting back tooth and nail came back into contention taking the next set 6-2.

Throwing caution to the wind, Nasir with his booming service and Ghulam giving him ample, support took a flying 3-0 lead in the decider. Hera cashing in on service and then breaking Nasir crept closer 2-3.

However Ghulam and Nasir pulled away to take the final frame 6-2. In the ladies event, top seed Marium Rahim moved into the last four with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over former national champion Ghazala Yasmin. But Marium's twin sisters Nida and Maria were forced to make their exits.

Nida after taking the first two points from second seed Nida Wasim and then holding on 3-3, went down 6-3, 6-0, after the second seed picked up the last nine points on the trot.

The other twin Maria ended her winning run against fourth seed Sana Bhagat, who after winning the opening set 6-0, dropped three points before taking the set 6-3. Third seed Nousheen Ehtsham, mother of former Pakistan No.1 and Davis Cupper Aisamul Haq did herself proud by getting the better of Seher Khawaja a much younger opponent who put up a good performance before going down 6-2, 6-2.

Top seeds Aqeel and Jalil Khan swept into the men's doubles final with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Inam Gul (PAF) and Munir Ashiq (Lahore). Earlier in the quarterfinals, the brothers ended the pretensions of Asad Ali Bhagat and Mohammad Shafiq 7-5, 6-1.

In the other quarterfinal Wasif Cheema and Shahzad Khan got the better of the youthful pair of Asim Javed and Saif Noor Sumar 6-2, 6-4. Another youthful combination of Adnan Khan and Khalid Ali Nazar shocked the third seeds Nomi Qamar and Mehmood Khan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in a match that went to the wire. But facing the second seeds Wasif Cheema and Shahzad Khan in the semifinals the youngsters bowed out 4-6, 1-6.

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