April 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1429

KARACHI, April 14: Top seed Zuhair Raza cruised into juniors U-17 singles quarter-finals by making short work of Rehmat Ali in the Pakistan Open tennis championship at Karachi Club on Monday.

The junior international, who got a first round bye, punished his opponent in an imposing 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Earlier in the day, a jet-lagged Zuhair was forced to make exit in the men’s singles first round tasting 1-6, 0-6 defeat at the hands of promising Asfand Rauf. He arrived from Chundigarh via Lahore on Sunday night after a two-week training trip.

Joining him in the last eight are Sunny William, Omer Shahid and Nameer Shamsi who have a straight sailing over their opponents.

Defending champion Aqeel Khan who got a first round bye opens his men’s singles campaign when he faces Zia Hai on Tuesday. The latter had beaten Aslam Pervez 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.

Meanwhile, at least six outstation women players have reached here for competing in the ladies singles which gets into action on Tuesday. These include top seed Sara Mehboob, second seed Sara Mansoor, Ushna Sohail, Saba Aziz, Mehreen Izhar and Mehak Khokhar.

Results:

Men’s singles first round:

M. Naeem bt Husain Jassani 5-7, 7-5, 2-0 (rtd); Nasir Mushtq bt Vinod Das 6-4, 6-1; Noumanul Haq (Islamabad) bt Abdul Rehman (Multan) 6-4, 6-4; Asfand Rauf bt Syed Zuhair Raza 6-1, 6-0; Yasir Khan w/o Naresh Das.

Second round:

Yasir Khan bt M. Naeem 6-2, 6-0.

Juniors U-17 singles first round:

Basit Gabol bt Ali Khalid 6- 0, 7-6,(8-6); Abdul Rehman bt Farhan Mustafa 6-1, 6-4; Nameer Shamsi bt Hasan Saqib 6-1, 6-0; Uzair Qadir bt Ahmed Waqas 6-3, 6-4; Abdul Rehman (Multan) bt Mehboob Ali 6-2, 6-3; Ishaq Khan (Quetta) bt Sameer Tayyab 6-0, 6-1.

Juniors U-17 singles second round:

Sunnny William bt Asadullah 6-4, 6-4; Omer Shahid bt Uzair A. Qadir 6-0, 6-1; Syed Zuhair Raza bt Rehmat Ali 6-0, 6-1; Nameer Shamsi bt M. Ishaq Khan (Quetta) 6-4, 6-3.

Boys U-15 singles first round:

Omer Osman bt Nasrullah Qureshi 6-2, 7-5; Abdul Rehman bt Sameer Tayyab 6-2, 6-0; Shehryar Ahmed bt Ahsan Saqib 6-3, 7-5; Farhan Mustafa bt Noorur Rehman 6-2, 6-3; Basit Gabol bt Touqeer Abbas 6-0, 6-0.

Boys U-15 second round:

Ahmed Choudhri bt Khalid 6-0, 6-1; Azher Qureshi bt Basit Gabol 6-4, 7-5; Mustafa Zaidi bt Ahsan Saqib 6-0, 6-1; Farhan Mustafa w/o Fahad Zafar.

Boys U-13 singles first round:

Hamza Asim w/o Fahad; Husain Siddique bt Adnan Allahwala 6-2, 6-1.

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Men’s singles 9.00am; men’s doubles 11.00am; juniors U-17 singles 12.00noon; boys U-15 singles and ladies singles 2.30pm; boys U-13 singles 3.00pm.

— Sports Correspondent