April 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429

KARACHI, April 15: Top seed Aqeel Khan opened his title defence campaign with an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 victory over Zia Hai to make it to the men’s singles last eight stage in the Pakistan Open tennis championship at the Karachi Club on Tuesday.

The Pakistan No 1, who arrived from Tehran the same morning, crossed the first hurdle with ease and is now drawn to meet Nasir Mushtaq in the quarter-final on Wednesday.

However, his brother and second seed Jalil Khan, who also got a first round bye, survived an early scare when he struggled to overcome Asfand Rauf 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to propel into the next stage.

Third seed Asim Shafik from Islamabad, the current member of the Davis Cup squad, was home 6-0, 6-0 against Robin Das while fourth seed Nomi Qamar sent Nomanul Haq packing 6-1, 6-0. Both have also stormed into the last-eight round.

The above four were joined in the last eight by sixth seed Shehzad Khan who played Pakistan’s relegation round Davis Cup tie against Pacific Oceania last year.

He gave a 6-2, 6-3 drubbing to Abdul Saeed in the first round and then got the better of wild card Omer Jahangir 6-0, 6-0 in the second.

The fifth seed Yasir Khan had already reached the quarter-finals the other day.

Adil Kohari, the top seed, chalked up a straight victory over Omer Usman to advance into boys’ under-15 singles semis. He won the battle 6-4, 6-0.

Similarly, ladies top seed, Sara Mahboob, ended the pretensions of Seher Khawaja chalking up 6-3, 6-0 victory to sail into the last four.

Results:

Ladies singles:

First round:

Sara Ahmed bt Maheen Dada 6-1, 6-0.

Second round:

Sara Mehboob bt Seher Khawaja 6-3, 6-0.

Men’s singles:

First round:

Shehzad Khan (Faisalabad) bt M. Abdul Saeed (Karachi) 6-2, 6-3; Asim Shafik (Islamabad) bt Hari Das (Karachi) – walkover; Shahid Khan (Faisalabad) bt Saqib Hussain (Karachi) 6-1, 6-2.

Second round:

Asim Shafik (Islamabad) bt Robin Das (Karachi) 6-0, 6-0; Jalil Khan (Karachi) bt Asfand Rauf (Karachi) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); Nomi Qamar (Karachi) bt Naumanul Haq (Islamabad) 6-1, 6-0; Shehzad Khan (Faisalabad) bt Omer Jahangir (Karachi) 6-0, 6-0; Aqeel Khan (Karachi) bt Zia Hai (Karachi) 6-1, 6-1.

Juniors’ under-17 singles:

First round: Ahmed Choudhri bt Omer Osman 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Second round:

Abdul Rehman bt Basit Gabol 6-0, 6-2; Mustafa Zaidi bt Azher Qureshi 6-2, 6-2.

Boys’ under-15 singles:

Second round: Adil Kohari bt Uzair A. Qadir – walkover.

Quarter-final:

Adil Kohari bt Omer Usman 6-4, 6-0.

Wednesday’s fixtures:

Men’s singles 9.00am; men’s doubles 11.00am; juniors’ under-17 singles 12.00noon; boys’ under-15 singles 2.30pm; boys’ under-13 singles 3.30pm.