March 18, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429

KARACHI, March 17: Six men’s singles first round matches played on Monday saw two walkovers in the third Sindh ranking tennis tournament at the Beach View Club courts.

Changez Hassan and Asadullah cruised into the next round after their opponents Fahim Bhutto and Afaq Ahmed did not turn up at the venue.

The Sindh Tennis Association (STA) has recently penalised five players for this act to eradicate the growing trend of walkovers in the game without valid reason.

Meanwhile, Robin Das and Abdul Saeed advanced into men’s singles last eight, registering straight wins over their opponents. Robin disposed-off Asadullah 6-3, 6-1 while Saeed got the better of Aslam Pervez 6-1, 6-1.

Results:

Men’s singles first round: M. Naeem bt M. Essa Jee 6-2, 6-3; Fahim Ramzan bt Usman Imran 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (1); Changez Hassan w/o Fahim Bhutto; Asadullah w/o Afaq Ahmed; Sikander Hayat bt Salman Ahmed 6-3, 6-0; Qazi Zain bt Bilal Soomro 6-2, 6-3.Pre quarter-finals: M. Abdul Saeed bt Aslam Pervez 6-1, 6-1; Robin Das bt Asadullah 6-3, 6-1.

Juniors U-17 singles pre quarter-finals: Mustafa Zaidi bt Bilal Sharif 6-1, 6-1.

Boys U-11 singles pro-set first round: Talha Zubair bt M. Raza Sawani 8-1; Saud Shoaib bt Baber Muzaffar 8-3.

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Men’s singles 10.00am; men’s doubles 12.00noon; boys U-11 singles 2.00pm.