ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: Pakistan’s Safeerullah Khan created quite a stir in the first round of the main draw of the Pakistan Open Squash Championship, defeating compatriot Adil Maqool, at the Mushaf Squash Complex on Tuesday.

Ranked 214, Safeerullah, who replaced Majid Khan after he quit the main round due to an injury, stunned No 73 Adil in straight games 11-8, 11-7, 12-10.

Safeerullah will now face Kashif Shuja of New Zealand in the quarter-final.

In another interesting fixture Waqar Mehboob of Pakistan thrashed Martin Knight of New Zealand 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7 in 50 minutes.

Aamir Atlas Khan, second seed of the tournament, trounced wild card entrant Nasir Iqbal in straight games 3-0. Nasir who started the first game with a point could not sustain Amir’s drop shots and some good backhand shots in the three games. Amir won the first game on strokes winning it 11-9. In the second game Nasir tried his best to bounce back as he came back hard against Amir from 6-1 to 10-7 but lost it at 11-7. Amir won the last game in the same fashion winning it 11-7 in just 22 minutes.

All other players including top seed Farhan Mehboob cruised into the next round of the championship.

Meanwhile, in the women’s event top seed Christina Mak of Hong Kong hammered Mehwish Hanif of Pakistan in straight games 11-5,11-3, 11-6.

Egypt’s Sara Elnomany beat Zoya Khalid of Pakistan 11-2, 11-7, 11-2 while Heba Eltorky of Egypt shocked Gul Zaman of Pakistan 11-1, 11-3, 11-0.

Results:

Men’s:

Yasir Butt (Pakistan) bt Amjad Khan (Pakistan) 11-9, 15-13, 11-7; Campbell Grayson (New Zealand) bt Shahid Zaman (Pakistan) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9; Safeerullah Khan (Pakistan) bt Adil Maqool (Pakistan) 11-8, 11-7, 12-10; Waqar Mehboob (Pakistan) bt Martin Knight (New Zealand) 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7; Aamir Atlas (Pakistan) bt Nasir Iqbal (Pakistan) 11-5, 11-7, 11-7; Farhan Mehboob (Pakistan) bt Shams-ul-Islam (Pakistan) 9-11, 11-3, 11-3, 11-6; Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan) bt Danish Atlas (Pakistan) 11-2, 11-8, 11-5; Kashif Shuja (New Zealand) bt Aqib Hanif (Pakistan) 11-9,11-6,11-7.

Women’s:

Christina Mak (Hong Kong) bt Mehwish Hanif (Pakistan) 11-5,11-3, 11-6; Rushna Mehboob (Pakistan) bt Amna Latif (Pakistan) 11-1, 11-2, 11-4; Maria Toor (Pakistan) bt Zeba Pervez (Pakistan) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 Sara Elnomany (Egypt) bt Zoya Khalid (Pakistan) 11-2, 11-7, 11-2; Muqaddas Ashraf (Pakistan) bt Aliya Sarfraz (Pakistan) 11-5, 11-8, 11-2; Heba Eltorky (Egypt) bt Gul Zaman (Pakistan) 11-1, 11-3, 11-0; Saima Shoukat (Pakistan) bt Riffat Khan (Pakistan) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7; Joe Chan (Hong Kong) bt Amna Mehboob (Pakistan) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2.