August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

KARACHI, Aug 23: Exhibitting the best performance of his career so far, the country’s future prospect Nasir Mushtaq on Thursday stormed into the boys singles semi-finals when he humbled Indian Mandeep Yadev in straight sets of the ITF juniors ranking tennis tournament at the Karachi Club.

Nasir, a junior international, was home 6-4, 6-1 against his opponent who had toppled sixth seed Yasir Khan in the second round on Tuesday.

He is drawn to meet Chandril Sood from India who got past Gugan Varma 6-1, 6-4 in the other quarter-final.

The two completed the semi-final line-up as Sumeet Shinde (India) and Nuttorn Tanchainant (Thailand) had propelled on Wednesday.

The first set between Nasir and Yadev was fought on even-kneel and the two players confined them to baseline.

Contrary to the first, the second set was a cakewalk for Nasir, who after breaking his opponent’s serve, raced to wrap up the set 6-1.

The local prodigy recently went down to the top seed in three sets in the ITF juniors tournament (grade five) in Jordan and made a second round exit in the (grade four) tournament in Syria.

However, luck was not on his side when teaming up with Ahmed Aslam, the pair went down to the top seed Sood brothers — Chandril and Lakshit — 5-7, 3-6 in the boys doubles quarter-finals.

India’s unseeded Ratnika Batra and second seed Soniya Dayal set a date for the semi-final clash after registering victories over their opponents.

Ratnika disposed off Natasha Afridi 6-2, 6-2 while Soniya inflicted 7-5, 6-2 defeat on Asha Mohan.

Top seed Inayat Khosla (India) and Carol Benito (Spain) had qualified for the last four the other day.

Results:

Boys singles quarter-finals: Nasir Mushtaq (Pak) bt Mandeep Yadav (Ind) 6-4, 6-1; Chandril Sood (Ind)bt Gugan Varma (Ind) 6-1, 6-4.

Girls singles quarter-finals: Ratnika Batra (Ind) bt Natasha Afridi (Pak) 6-2, 6-2; Soniya Dayal (Ind) bt Asha Mohan (Ind) 7-5, 6-0.

Girls doubles first round: Richa Valecha/Dipti Shrivastava bt Mehreen Izhar/Sindhura Polavarapu 6-0, 6-0.

Boys’ doubles quarter-finals: Yasir Khan/Tanveer Ashiq bt Chandam Shaolin/Shiva Sangwan 6-2, 6-4; Chandril Sood/Lakshit Sood bt Nasir Mushtaq/Ahmed Aslam 7-5, 6-3; Thangarajah Dineshkanthan/M. Abid Ali bt Kaza Sharma/Sameer Paranjape 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; Gugan Varma/Nehal Kapoor bt Wasin Wijaya/Dussadee Darakamas 6-3, 6-2.Friday’s fixtures:

Boys’ singles semi-finals: (9.30am) Chandril Sood (Ind) v Nasir Mushtaq (Pak); Sumeet Shinde (Ind) v Nuttorn Tanchainant (Thai).

Girls’ singles semi-finals: Inayat Khosla (Ind) v Carol Benito (Spain); Ratnika Batra (Ind) v Soniya Dayal (Ind).

Boys’ doubles semi-finals: Gugan Varma/Nehal Kapoor v Tanveer Ashiq/Yasir Khan; Lakshit Sood/Chandril Sood v Thangarajah Dineshkanthan/M. Abid Ali.

Girls’ doubles semi-finals: Richa Valecha/Dipti Shrivastava v Natasha Afridi/Soniya Dayal; Ratnika Batra/Carol Benito v Mehak Khokhar/Ushna Sohail.