April 14, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1429

KARACHI, April 13: Making his appearance after a layoff, fourth seed Nomi Qamar took a winning start when he faced no difficulty in disposing off Quetta’s M. Ishaq straight to reach men’s singles second round in the Pakistan Open tennis championship at Karachi Club on Sunday.

Nomi, who last represented the country in 2006 Davis Cup relegation round against China, was home 6-1, 6-4.

He has recently served a two-month ban imposed by the Sindh Tennis Association for ‘unsporting attitude’ in the Sindh Games at Sukkur earlier this year.

Second seed Nameer Shamsi, winner of boys U-13 title in Pakistan Open last year, also had a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 sailing over Samoon James in boys U-15 singles.

All the top players are due to reach in the city on Monday to compete in the event.

Meanwhile, Naresh Das and M. Naeem completed the two qualifying spots in the men’s singles main draw.

Results:

Men’s singles first round:

Robin Das bt M. Naseem 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Ali Asghar Bandeali bt Sunny Williams 6-4, 6-3; Zia Hai bt Aslam Pervez 6-3, 6-2; Nomi Qamar bt M. Ishaq 6-1, 6-4.

Juniors U-17 singles first round:

Omer Osman bt Abdullah Arain 6-2, 6-1; Aamir Darvesh bt Nasrullah Qureshi 6-0, 6-1; Mustafa Zaidi bt Noorur Rehman 6-0, 6-0; Rehmat Ali bt Adil Tanoli 6-2, 6-0.

Boys U-15 singles first round:

Nameer Shamsi bt Samoon James 6-1, 6-2; Fahad bt Shahrukh 6-0, 6-2; Azher Qureshi bt Aurangzeb 6-2, 7-5; Khalid Zaman bt M. Ali Khannani 6-0, 6-1.

Monday’s fixtures:

Men’s singles 9.00am; juniors U-17 singles 12.00noon; boys U-15 singles 2.00pm; boys U-13 singles and ladies singles 3.00pm.