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| March 4, 2006 | Saturday | Safar 3, 1427 |
Anoosha on course for double crown
KARACHI, March 3: Unseeded Anoosha Aslam came from the jaws of defeat in the decisive set that followed tie-breaker as she humbled top seed Sara Mahboob to book a berth in the girls U-17 final of the Greener Pakistan National Hard Court tennis at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.
The Islamabad-based Anoosha staged a grand comeback twice to level the score 5-5 and 6-6 finally winning the tie-breaker 7-6 (18-16) to topple her fancied opponent. Earlier she won the opener 6-2 and lost the second 5-7.
Anoosha will now take on second seed Sara Mansoor in the final on Saturday at 3.30pm.
She had already qualified for the Sunday’s women’s singles final by edging out title holder Seher Khwaja in three sets the other day.
By eliminating two better players on successive days, Anoosha has established her credentials and was on course of claiming a double crown.
Sara Mahboob, 15, who also hails from Islamabad, is the reigning National Clay Court champion and had featured in ITF U-18 competition at Sri Lanka where she was beaten in quarterfinal.
Asim Shafik teamed up with Inam Gul to beat the pair of M. Shafiq-Nomi Qamar 6-2, 6-2 to cruise into men’s doubles final.
Meanwhile, the organisers have imposed a fine of Rs. 2500 apiece on Mubashir Afridi and Khalid Ali Nazar on the charges of ‘code violation’.
Results:
Men’s doubles (semifinal): Asim Shafik-Inam Gul bt M. Shafiq-Nomi Qamar 6-2, 6-2
Girls U-17 singles (semifinal): Anoosha Aslam bt Sara Mahboob 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (18-16)
Saturday’s fixtures: Men’s singles first semifinal (Asim Shafik v Nomi Qamar); Boys U-17 singles semifinals (Nasir Mushtaq v Usman Ijaz, Yasir Khan v Abbas Raza) at 10.00am.
Men’s singles second semifinal (Aqeel Khan v Jalil Khan) at 1.00pm.
Girls U-17 singles final (Anoosha Aslam v Sara Mansoor) at 3.30pm.
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