KARACHI: Pakistan’s star player Nofil Kaleem won back to back semi-finals in U-18 and U-16 singles events to qu­a­lify for the finals of the 11th Pizza Hut Open National Tennis Cham­pionships at the Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

Nofil easily overpowered Kashan-ul-Haq 6-3, 7-6 in the U-18 semi-final but found a lot of resistance from Dawar Rehan and even dropped a set in the U-16 semi-final before registering a 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 triumph.

The U-16 final is expected to be a close battle as Nofil will meet Raza Sawani who trashed Eibad Sarwar Hussain, recording an immaculate 6-0, 6-0 victory.

In other matches, Ilham Khan defeated Bilal Imran 6-4, 7-5 while Nauman Aftab thrashed Amin Shafi 6-3, 7-5 to qualify for the final of U-14 singles event.

In the ladies event, Maheen Dada recorded a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Rida to qualify for the U-18 girls singles final.

She will now face Neha who trounced Wania Khan 6-3, 6-0 win.

Amin Shafi and Mohammad Dada set final date in the U-12 singles event after beating Farzan Ahmed and Mohammad Yahya 8-0 and 8-3 respectively in the semi-finals.

In the 35-plus singles quarter-finals, Asad Ali Bagat dro­pped a set against Zulfi be­fore recording a 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 victory and secured a berth in the semi-finals.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2014