LAHORE: The inaugural Long Beach ITF Senior Tennis Tournament entered the final stage in all the age categories at the Bagh-i-Jinnah courts here on Thursday.
In the 35-plus doubles, Irfanullah-Shahzad Khan upset top seeds Israr Gul-Shehryar Salamat 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-final while the pair of Asher Ali Khan and Fayyaz Khan overcame the Naeem Siddique-Mohammad Arif duo 6-4, 6-4 in the other semi-final.
In the 45-plus doubles semi-final, Israr Gul-Irfanullah Khan reached the final after overpowering Fayyaz Khan and Mohammad Arif 6-3, 6-4.
Asad Niaz and Imran Siddique booked their place in the 50-plus doubles final after overwhelming Waqar Nisar and Mohammad Saeed Ikranullah 6-1, 6-0. Rashid Malik and Rai Zahid got a walkover against Iftikhar Rao and Pervaiz Bajwa to make the final of this age category.
Meanwhile, in 65-plus doubles round robin matches Shahid Mahmood-Naveed Najam registered a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Khalid Ikram and Khurram Khawaja. Chaudhry Muhstaq Ahmed and Laiq Pirzada earned a 6-3, 6-4 win against the duo of Pervaiz Bajwa and Imtiaz Hussain Malik.
In the 35-plus singles semi-finals, seventh seed Shahzad Khan upset fourth seed Talha Waheed 6-1, 6-2; while in the second semi-final Fayyaz Khan outclassed Syed Haddi Hussain Rizvi 6-0, 6-1.
In the 65-plus age group singles semi-finals, Laiq Ahmed Pirzada beat Chaudhry Musthaq Ahmed 7-5, 7-5. In the final, Laiq faces Shahid Mehmood who defeated Khurram Khawaja 6-4, 6-3 in their last-four clash.
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2016
