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| September 8, 2005 | Thursday | Sha’aban 3, 1426 |
Indians on top as Yasir keeps hosts’ hopes alive
LAHORE, Sept 7: Indians continue to dominate the boys’ singles as three players from across the border qualified for the semifinals along with home player Yasir Khan in the ITF Junior tennis championship at the Bagh-i-Jinnah courts on Wednesday.
Two other Pakistanis—Tanveer Ashiq and M Omar Babar were beaten in the quarterfinals by Indians.
Yasir showed fighting spirit as he outgunned Indian Rahul Belwal in straight sets 6-1, 7-6 (5) in 47 minutes.
Yasir made a fine start and raced to win the first set after losing only one game. He broke Rahul’s service in the third and the fifth games.
Rahul, realizing the importance of the second set, fought hard as both were tied at 6-6 by holding their serves to take the issue into the tie-breaker.
However, it was Yasir who proved better equipped on the day to clinch the tie-breaker and the match.
Indias top-seed Sumit Prakash Gupta, Anshuman Dutta and Kinsuk Sharma made the last four stage.
Gupta was an easy winner against Tanveer Ashiq 6-4, 6-1 in an encounter that lasted 37 minutes.
Third seed Dutta ousted Omar 7-6 (3), 7-5. Exhibiting good strokes both managed to hold their serves to play tie-breaker in the first set.
Dutta, however, proved good to take 1-0 lead. It was a different story in the second set as Dutta outclassed Omar with an array of forehand winners. Sharma made a short work of qualifier Vikram 6-2, 6-4.
The story was even more depressing for the home players in the girls’ singles as none could make it to the quarterfinals.
Prariyawat Ratanakrong and Khunpak Issara were two Thai girls who made the last four stage.
The giant-killer Mythri Prerna Appineni, who defeated top seed Ahuja Karina on Tuesday, was the only Indian who qualified for the semifinals while Jawariah Noor Din, a Malaysian was the fourth.
Ratanakrong caused a major upset when she defeated Inayat Khosla (India) in a three set well-contested match 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Khosla led 1-0 winning the first with a break in the ninth game.
Ratanakrong hit back winning the second and maintaining command she won the third set and the match.
The Thai girl broke Khosla’s serve in the fifth and the seventh games to make sure of victory.
In another hard-fought battle, Jawariah had to battle to subdue Satjaporn Mahajaroenku (Thailand) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 30 minutes.
Issara earned a two-set win against Vishaka Sheroan (India) 7-6 (8), 6-4 after facing stiff resistance in the first set.
Results:
Boys singles (quarterfinals): Sumit Prakash Gupta (Ind) bt Tanveer Ashiq (Pak) 6-4, 6-1; Yasir Khan (Pak) bt Rahul Belwal (Ind) 6-1, 7-6 (5); Anshuman Dutta (Ind) bt M Omar Babar (Pak) 7-6 (3), 7-5; Kinshuk Sharma (Ind) bt Vikram Reddy (Ind) 6-2, 6-4.
Boys’ doubles (quarterfinals): Sumit Prakash Gupta-Anshuman Dutta (Ind) bt Abid Ali-Ghulam Abbas Panju (Pak) 6-2, 6-3; Gursher Harika-Aswin Vijayaragavan (Ind) bt Tanveer Ashiq-Yasir Khan (Pak) 6-3, 7-5; Kinshuk Sharma (India)-Khunpol Issara (Thailand) bt Pulkit Mishra-Rubal Shandilya (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; B Vikram Reddy-Kaushik Das (Ind) bt M Omar Babar-Khurram Nazir (Pak) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Girls singles (quarterfinals): Mythri Prerna Appineni (Ind) bt Neha Rana (Ind) 6-4, 6-1; Jawariah Noor Din (Mal) bt Satjaporn Mahajaroenku (Thai) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Prariyawat Ratanakrong (Thai) bt Inayat Khosla (Ind) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; Khunpak Issara (Tha) bt Vishaka Sheroan (Ind) 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Girls doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sanjana Kapoor-Anusihka Kapoor (Ind) bt Sara Mahboob-Anoosha Aslam (Pak) 7-6, 6-2. 3 /
Girls’ doubles (quarterfinals): Jawairih Noor Din (Mal)-Inayat Khosla (Ind) bt Nida Rahim-Sara Mansoor (Pak) 6-0, 6-0; Khunpak Issara (Tha)-Vishakha Sheoran (Ind) bt Mythra Prerna Appineni-Rana Neha (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Tejaswini Datla-Karina Ahuja (Ind) bt Sanjana Kapur-Anushka Kapoor (Ind) 6-3, 6-2; Satjaporn Mahajaronkul-Prariyawat Ratankrong (Thai) bt Zeinab Khan-Natasha Afridi (Pak) 6-0, 6-1.
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