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KARACHI, July 27: Fourth seed Jalil Khan overcame his younger brother Yasir Khan in three gruelling sets to advance into men’s singles pre-final of Arif Habib Tennis Championship at Karachi Club on Thursday.
Jalil, member of the current Pakistan Davis Cup team, romped home 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 and is drawn to meet second seed Asim Shafik who carved out 6-1, 6-3 win over Inam Gul.
In the two other matches, top seed Aqeel Khan was in a punishing mood as he squeezed past Tanveer Muneer 6-0, 6-1 to face third seed Nomi Qamar who accounted for Wasif Cheema 7-5, 6-2.
Yasir, youngest of the Khan clan, had some consolation as he lived up to his top billing by making it to the juniors U-17 final. Yasir, 17, beat Lahore’s Hira Aashiq 6-3, 6-3 en-route to the final.
Shaheryar Wali, who is here on holidays from the US, eliminated sixth seed Abid Ali 6-0, 6-0 to set a date with Yasir. It will be a repeat of the men’s singles pre-quarterfinal where the latter won in three sets.
The semifinal line up of the boys U-13 singles was also completed on Thursday. Those who made it to the last four were top seed Syed Zuhair Raza, Abdul Rehman, Shamoon and Mustafa Zaidi.
In a draw of eight, Sana Bhagat also reached the ladies singles semifinal without playing a match. Sana who got a walkover against Anam Saeed is pitted against Saba Aziz while top seed Sara Mahboob take on Seher Khwaja in the two semis on Friday at 4.pm.
Results:
Men’s singles (quarterfinals): Nomi Qamar bt Wasif Cheema 7-5, 6-2; Asim Shafik bt Inam Gul 6-1, 6-3; Aqeel Khan bt Tanveer Muneer 6-0, 6-1; Jalil Khan bt Yasir Khan 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.
Juniors U-17 singles (semifinals): Yasir Khan bt Hira Aashiq 6-3, 6-3; Shaheryar Wali bt Abid Ali 6-0, 6-0.
Boys U-13 singles (quarterfinals): Syed Zuhair Raza bt M. Zubaid Gul 6-0, 6-0; Abdul Rehman w/o Tayyab Imran; Shamoon bt Azhar Qureshi 6-3, 7-6 (5); Mustafa Zaidi bt M. Shahrukh Asim 6-0, 6-0.
Men’s doubles (semifinal): Asim Shafik-Nomi Qamar bt Saad Baloch-Samad Baloch 6-3, 6-1.
Seniors doubles (quarterfinals): Arif Dervesh-Dr. Shoaib w/o Adeel-Ejaz; Yousuf Suleman-Rafiq Godil w/o Faisal-Naveed; Mehboob Khan-Gul Hamid bt Tariq Aziz-Ilyas 6-2, 6-1; Fawad Ejaz Khan-Sabi Wali bt Ashraf Admaney-Rafiq 6-2, 6-1.
Ladies singles: Sana Bhagat w/o Anam Saeed
Friday’s fixtures:
Boys U-13 singles (semifinals) 11.00pm; men’s doubles (final) 3.30pm; ladies singles (semifinals) 4.00pm; juniors U-17 singles (final) 4.30pm; seniors doubles (semifinals) 4.30pm.
