May 06, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1428

LAHORE, May 5: Top seed, Aqeel Khan and fourth seed Nomi Qamar, entered the men's singles final of the Pakistan Open tennis for Nazim Cup at Royal Palm Club on Saturday.

Aqeel, made his way to the final ousting his younger brother Jalil Khan from the tournament winning the first semi-final 6-4, 6-3.

In the first set Aqeel built up a 3-0 lead by breaking first and third game. But soon Jalil caught Aqeel on the wrong foot making it 3-all, breaking the serve in the fourth and sixth game. But experience prevailed at the end as Aqeel wrapped up the first set with another serve's break in the seventh game.

In the second set, Aqeel, was more offensive and soon gained a comfortable 5-2 lead, breaking Jalil in the fifth and seventh games. Aqeel having control on his aggressive game from the baseline and serve and volley broke another serve of Jalil in the 9th and seal the fate of the match.

In the second semi-final, fourth seed Nomi Qamar staged a major upset carving out a 6-3, 6-1 win against second seed Asim Shafik. Asim started the match aggressively and challenged Nomi, breaking his serve in the first game.

But Nomi broke the second game to be on even keel. Both were again tied at 3-all, as both players held their own serves. But Nomi broke the crucial serves of Asim in the eighth game to win the first set.

In the second, Nomi did not allow Asim to settle down and raced to gain 4-0 by breaking first and third serves and showed no mercy for struggling Asim by again breaking the serve in the seventh game to complete the win. The final will be played on Sunday at 4:15pm.

In the ladies singles semi-final second seed Sara Mansoor, won her encounter against Ushna Sohail in two sets 6-2, 6-3.

Sara was in brilliant form and did not allow Ushna to create any trouble. Sara will meet Sarah Mahboob on Sunday.

In the Boys U-14 event, S. Zohair Raza a top young player from Karachi won the title beating M. Abid in the final 6-2, 6-4.

Omer Babar notched up the Boys' U-17 final, beating S. Zohair Raza in a well contested three sets 6-2,5-7,6-3.

Earlier, in the quarter-finals of the Girls U-17 event Qurat-ul-Ain won her match against Mehreen Izhar 7-6 (6), 7-5.

In the Girls U-14 singles semifinals Meheq Khokhar beat Mehreen Izhar while Ushna Sohail beat Marium Tauqeer in straight set to set the date for final.

Results:

Men's singles semi-finals:

Aqeel Khan bt Jalil Khan 6-4, 6-3; Nomi Qamar bt Asim Shafik 6-3, 6-1

Men's doubles semi-finals: Asim Shafik-Jalil Khan bt Mehmood Khan-Inam Gul 6-0, 6-3; Aqeel Khan-Rashid Malik bt Nomi Qamar-M.Shafiq 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Boys U-14 singles final:

Syed Zohair Raza bt M. Abid 6-2, 6-4.

Girls U-14 semi-finals:

Meheq Khokhar bt Mehreen Izhar 6-3, 6-1; Ushna Sohail bt Marium Tauqeer 6-1, 6-1.

Boys U-17 singles' final:

Omer Babar bt S. Zohair Raza 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.