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| June 23, 2005 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1426 |
Champion Sehar cruises into semis
KARACHI, June 22: The reigning ladies national hard court champion Sehar Khawja, stormed into the semifinals of the KC tennis championship 2005, when she outplayed Ayaka Ishigawa 6-1, 6-0, at the Karachi Club on Wednesday.
Seventeen-year-old Ayaka, who played a marvellous match two days ago, was all at sea against the champion and although she fought back hard, Sehar just kept on building up the points to emerge a worthy winner.
Also booking her place in the semifinals was 14-year-old Sara Mehboob, a talented teenager from Islamabad, who beat upcoming 12-year-old Ramsha Sajjad without dropping a point.
Defending champion and top seed Nida Waseem was forced to withdraw from the tournament after injuring her wrist leading 1-0 against Lahore’s Saba Aziz.
In the men’s singles, former Pakistan No.12 Rashid Malik winning his overnight match against Kalim Ghanchi after three hard fought out sets went on to book his berth in the last 16 with a 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Mubashir Afridi in the very next round.
Also winning both his singles matches on Wednesday was PAF’s Inam Gul. Disposing of Hyderabad’s Abid Ali Shah 6-2, 6-2, Inam got the better of veteran lefthander and perhaps the oldest player in the tournament Hari Das 6-3, 6-0.
Second seed Asim Shafiq made short work of Peshawar’s Hamid Gul 6-1, 6-1, while fifth seed Shahzad Khan from Faisalabad breezed past Hyderabad’s Saad Baloch 6-1, 6-1.
Mubashir Afridi went through when his opponent Umer Jahangir retired 1-0 in the second set after surrendering the opener 6-1.
Khurram Nazir from Lahore beat Peshawar opponent Mubarak Shah 6-1, 6-2 and Tanveer Ashiq ended Saif Noorsumar’s run in the tournament, with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the big left-hander.
Another left-hander Adnan Khan booked his berth in the last 16 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Irfanullah. Jalil Khan also reached the last 16 with a 6-3, 3-0 (retired) encounter over Khurram Nazir, but Yasir, the youngest of the Khan brothers bowed out to Tahir Iftikhar, a former Davis cupper 2-6, 2-6.
Although cutting his little finger badly, Tanvir Munir after being attended several times by the doctor came through a 6-4, 6-3 winner against Hyderabad’s Rafi Darbari.
Another ex Davis cupper Nasir Shirizi got the better of Lt. Cdr. Farhan 6-1, 6-2.
In the men’s doubles the brothers Nadir Ali Khan a former Davis Cup player and 1979 Asian silver medallist, teaming up with Babar Ali Khan made short work of Mubashir Khan and Hamid Gul 6-1, 6-0.
Also moving ahead was Tahir Iftikhar and Kalim Ghanchi 6-1, 6-1 victors over Ali Asghar Bandeali and Ruaz Aziz. Fourteen-year-old Nasir Mushtaq kept up his winning spree, brushing aside Anil Das 6-1, 6-2 in the boys under-17 singles.
Matches begin from 7.00a.m. on Thursday.
Results:
Men’s singles Rashid Malik bt Kalim Ghanchi 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Tanvir Ashiq bt Saif Noorsumar 6-3, 7-5.
Inam Gul bt Abid Ali Shah 6-2, 6-2. Asim Shafiq bt Hamid Gul 6-1, 6-1.
Khurram Nazir bt Mubarak Shah 6-1, 6-2. Mubashir Afridi bt Umer Jahangir 6-1, 1-0 (retired) Shahzad Khan bt Saad Baloch 6-1, 6-1.
Tanvir Munir beat Rafi Darbari 6-3, 6-4. Adnan Khan bt Irfanullah 6-1, 6-2.
Inam Gul bt Hari Das 6-3, 6-0. Tahir Iftikhar bt Yasir Khan 6-2, 6-2. Jalil Khan bt Khurram Nazir 6-3 3-0 (retired). Nasir Shirizi bt Lt. Cdr Farhan 6-1 6-2. Rashid Malik bt Mubashir Afridi 6-0, 6-0.
Men’s doubles Nadir Ali Khan/Babar Ali Khan bt Hamid Gul and Mubashir Khan 6-1, 6-0. Tahir Iktikhar/Kalim Ghanchi bt Ali Asghar Bandeali/Riaz Aziz 6-1, 6-1.
Boys under-17 singles Nasir Mushtaq bt Anil Das 6-1, 6-2. Mateen Arif bt Sanaullah 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Umer Baber bt Danish Ahmed 6-2, 6-1. Usman Ejaz bt Mustafa Nanji 6-3, 6-3.
Boys under-15 singles
Hidatullah bt Hassan Ahmed 6-3, 6-1. Ghulam Abbas Panju bt Mustafa Jamali 6-3, 6-1.
Under-15 doubles
Jahangir Rashid/Hassan Ahmed bt Ibrahim Khalid/Abdul Rehman 6-1, 6-0. Anas Yousuf Zai/Sarmat Munir bt Dinesh Das/Vishal Chohan 6-4, 6-3.
Boys under-13 singles
Zohair Raza bt Dinesh Das 6-1, 6-0. Faizan Khurram bt Salman 6-1, 6-0. Asif Bachani bt Abu Baker 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Adil Kohari bt Saadur Rehman 6-1, 6-4.
Ladies singles (quarterfinals)
Sehar Khwaja bt Ayaka Ishigawa (Japan) 6-1, 6-0. Sara Mehboob bt Ramsha Sajjad 6-0, 6-0. Nida Waseem retired against Saba Aziz 1-0.
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