August 26, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 12, 1428

KARACHI, Aug 25: Second seed Soniya Dayal on Saturday picked up her maiden career title, inflicting a straight-set defeat on top seed Inayat Khosla in the All-India girls singles final of the ITF juniors ranking tennis tournament at Karachi Club.

Mumbai-born Soniya took one hour, 15 minutes to wrap up the match 6-2, 6-3.

“I’m delighted with the victory which came after a lot of hard work,” a jubilant Soniya told Dawn soon after the triumph. She also recalled her first title win against Khosla six years ago back home at the tender age of 10.

Accompanied by her mother, she arrived on Monday, a day after commencement of the main round, and cruised into the last eight without playing a match. She got a bye in the first round and a walkover against Eman Malik in the second.

She is on course for a double crown as teaming up with Natasha Afridi, the pair has made it to the girls doubles final also.

The Sood twin brothers —Chandril and Lakshit — claimed the boys double title when they disposed off the challenge from Pakistan’s Yasir Khan and Tanveer Ashiq.

The Indians sweat for one hour, 40 min to romp home 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the final which was also interrupted by rain in the morning.

Pakistan’s Nasir Mushtaq is pitted against Thailand’s Nuttorn Tanchainant in the boys’ doubles final on Sunday. This will be preceded by the girls’ doubles final.

Results:

Girls singles final: Soniya Dayal (Ind) bt Inayat Khosla (Ind) 6-2, 6-3.

Boys’ doubles final: Chandril Sood/Lakshit Sood (Ind) bt Yasir Khan/Tanveer Ashiq (Pak) 6-4, 7-6 (9).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Girls’ doubles final: (10.00am) Ratnika Batra/Carol Benito v Soniya Dayal/Natasha Afridi.

Boys’ singles final: (4.00pm) Nasir Mushtaq (Pak) v Nuttorn Tanchainant (Thai).

Qualifying round one (second leg):

Jibranul Haq bt Abdul Rehman 6-3, 7-5; Mustafa Zaidi bt Talha Saeed 6-1, 6-1; Goher Riaz bt Murtaza Haider 6-1, 7-6 (4); Anas Khan bt Hassan Ahmed 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Malik A. Rehman bt Zubair Ali 6-2, 6-0; Samir Iftikhar bt Shahzaib Nasir 6-0, 6-0; M. Fahim bt Ali Murad 6-2, 6-1.