July 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 11, 1429

KARACHI, July 14: Third seed Saba Aziz from Lahore stunned top seed Sara Mansoor (Islamabad) in straight sets to qualify for the ladies singles final of the Subh-e-Nau National Tennis Cup at the Modern Club on Monday.

Saba struggled to overcome her opponent 6-3, 6-4 and faces fourth seed Natasha Afridi (Islamabad) for the title. The latter routed second seed Ushna Sohail from Lahore 6-1, 7-6 in the other pre-final. Natasha, who had toppled Sara to win national hard court title last week, is on course to land back-to-back crown.

Brothers – Aqeel Khan and Jalil Khan - will be up against each other in the men’s singles final following success over their respective rivals in semi-finals.

Top seed Aqeel maintained his ascendancy when he breezed past fourth seed and runner-up of national hard court championship Nomi Qamar 6-3, 6-4 while Jalil disposed of second seed Asim Shafik (Islamabad) 6-2, 7-5.

Karachi’s Syed Zohair Raza and Lahore’s Heera Ashiq fought their way into the juniors’ under-17 final. The former accounted for Hamza Pataudi 6-2, 6-0 while the latter whipped Faizan Khurram 6-3, 6-4.

Kashan-ul-Haq who hails from Islamabad and Ali Mooraj sailed into the boys’ under-13 final.

Meanwhile, the pair of Aqeel and Jalil claimed the men’s doubles title by getting the better of Nomi Qamar/Asad Ali Bhagat 6-2, 6-2.

The ladies doubles title went to Natasha Afridi/Mehak Khokhar who notched up 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Sara Mansoor/Saba Aziz.

Results:

Men’s singles (semi-finals):

Aqeel Khan bt Nomi Qamar 6-3, 6-4; Jalil Khan bt Asim Shafik (Islamabad) 6-2, 7-5.

Ladies singles (semi-finals):

Saba Aziz (Lahore) bt Sara Mansoor (Islamabad) 6-3, 6-4; Natasha Afridi (Islamabad) bt Ushna Sohail (Lahore) 6-1, 7-6.

Boys’ Under-13 singles (semi-finals):

Kashan-ul-Haq (Islamabad) bt Murad Khan 4-0, 4-0; Ali Muraj bt Khawja Hamza 0-4, 4-1, 4-2.

Juniors’ Under-17 singles (semi-finals):Syed Zohair Raza bt Hamza Pataudi 6-2, 6-0; Heera Ashiq (Lahore) bt Faizan Khurram (Lahore) 6-3, 6-4.

Men’s doubles (final):

Aqeel Khan/Jalil Khan bt Nomi Qamar/Asad Ali Bhagat 6-2, 6-2.

Ladies doubles (final):

Natasha Afridi/Mehak Khokhar bt Sara Mansoor/Saba Aziz 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Tuesday’s fixtures (finals):

Ladies singles, juniors’ under-17 singles, boys’ under-13 singles at 9.30am; men’s singles at 4.30pm.