KARACHI, Aug 17: Playing one of the best matches of his career, former Sindh No 1 Omer Shahid pulled off a major upset when he removed second seed and a current member of Pakistan Davis Cup team Yasir Khan in three set duel to reach men’s singles final of the inaugural Modern Club Founder Members Ranking Tennis Championship on Saturday.
Omer displayed great fighting qualities while toppling his seasoned opponent 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to deny an all-brothers final.
The 21-year-old Omer is due to meet top ranked Aqeel Khan in the Sunday’s final after the latter whipped Syed Zuhair Raza 6-2, 6-2 in contrasting style in the other semi-final. The final starts at 4.00m.
In yet another upset, fourth seed Malik Hamza shocked second seed Dawar Rehan 6-2, 6-4 to set a date with top seed Ibrahim Iltifat in the juniors’ under-17 singles final.
Meanwhile, Nouman Aftab won the under-13 singles final inflicting 6-4, 7-5 defeat on M. Ahmed in the final on the penultimate day.
Mr. Ismail Zakaria, one of the founding members of the Modern Club, will grace the finals on Sunday and give away the prizes.
Results: Men’s singles: Semi-finals: Aqeel Khan bt Syed Zuhair Raza 6-2, 6-2; Omer Shahid bt Yasir Khan 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Quarter-finals: Syed Zuhair Raza bt Dawar Rehan 6-0, 6-2; Omer Shahid bt Ibrahim Iltifat 6-0, 6-2; Yasir Khan bt Malik Hamza 6-3, 6-4.
Juniors’ under-17 singles: Second semi-final: Malik Hamza bt Dawar Rehan 6-2, 6-4.
Under-15 singles: Quarter-final: Marib Malik bt Sahibzada M Ali 6-4, 0-6, 13-11.
Semi-finals: Marib Malik bt Saad M. Ali 6-3, 6-4; Raza Sawani bt Hassan Farooq 6-1, 7-6.
Under-13 singles: Semi-finals: Nouman Aftab bt Zubair Raja 6-0, 7-6; M. Ahmed bt Amin Shafi 6-1, 6-3.
Final: Nouman Aftab bt M. Ahmed 6-4, 7-5.
Under-11 singles: Quarter-final: Mohammad Dada bt Ibrahim Khan 8-2.
Semi-finals: Amin Shafi bt Mohammad Dada 8-1; Rayan Jawwad bt Hasheesh Dad 8-5.
Under-9 singles: Ibrahim Khan bt Gufran Junaid 8-3; Abdullah Khan bt Farzan Ahmed (walkover).
