May 30, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1428

KARACHI, May 29: Top two seeds — Aqeel Khan and Nomi Qamar — set a final date after chalking up contrasting victories in the men’s singles semi-finals of the 11th Anti-Tobacco Day tennis tournament at Karachi Club on Tuesday.

Top seed Aqeel inflicted a 6-2, 6-3 defeat on his younger brother Yasir Khan while second seed Nomi, after a tough first set, overcame Jalil Khan 7-6, 6-0.

The final is slated for Thursday.

Top seed Seher Khwaja, a former national hard court champion and a mother of two, was too quick when she disposed of Sara Ahmed 6-1, 6-1 to propel to the ladies’ singles final where she meets second seed Shahrukh Khan who accounted for Alia Hai 7-6, 6-0 in the other encounter. The two will be up against each other on the concluding day.

Zuhair Raza, who has shown marked improvement in his age group, crossed last but one hurdle when he was home 6-1, 6-3 against Mustafa Zaidi while Abdul Rehman got the better of Azher Qureshi 6-2, 6-2.

Zuhair faces Rehman in the title battle on Wednesday at 3:00pm.

Yasir, youngest of the Khan clan, meets another talented player Nasir Mushtaq in the juniors’ under-18 singles final on Wednesday. The two proved too good against Raza brothers (Abbas and Zuhair) in the semi-finals.

Yasir downed Abbas 7-5, 6-0 while Nasir edged past Zuhair 6-2, 6-3.

Results:

Men’s singles’ semi-finals:

Aqeel Khan bt Yasir Khan 6-2, 6-3; Nomi Qamar bt Jalil Khan 7-6, 6-0.

Ladies singles semi-finals:

Seher Khwaja bt Sara Ahmed 6-1, 6-1; Shahrukh Khan bt Alia Hai 7-6, 6-0.

Boys’ under-14 singles semi-finals:

Abdul Rehman bt Azher Qureshi 6-2, 6-2; Zuhair Raza bt Mustafa Zaidi 6-1, 6-3.

Wednesday’s fixtures:

Boys’ under-14 singles final; juniors’ under-18 singles final 3:00pm; juniors’ under-18 doubles final 3.30pm; men’s doubles final 4.30pm; veterans’ doubles final 6.30pm.