KARACHI, Dec 18: Ahmed Aslam was stretched to the limit to overcome a tenacious Talha Dar in the boys Under-18 first round clash in the Salma Noorani Cup on Thursday at Karachi Club.

Ahmed easily claimed the first set 6-1 but was stunned by a fighting Talha who levelled the score winning the second 6-4.

He kept his nerves at crucial junctures to emerge winner taking the deciding third set 6-4.

Veteran Davis Cupper and third seed Rashid Malik advanced to the second round of the men’s singles beating Amjad Nasir 6-3, 6-3. Fourth seed Jalil Khan also moved smoothly into the second round defeating Samad Baloch 6-2, 6-3.

Kamran Khalil and Khalid Ali Nazar too were hardly extended as they crushed Irfan Ullah 6-4, 6-2 and Ikram-ul-Haq 6-1, 6-2 to book second round berths.

Results:

Men’s singles first round:

Khalid Ali Nazar bt Ikram-ul-Haq 6-1, 6-2; Rashid Malik bt Amjad Nasir 6-3, 6-3; Kamran Khalil b Irfan Ullah 6-4, 6-3; Jalil Khan bt Samad Baloch 6-2, 6-3.

U-18 first round:

Usman Ejaz bt Ameer Diwan 6-0, 6-2; Ali Abdullah bt Suleman Aslam 6-2, 6-1; M. Amir Ali Khan bt Habib Hassan 6-1, 7-5; Ahmed Aslam bt Talha Dar 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Fahad Ali bt Ali Asghar 6-3, 6-2; Danish Ahmed w/o Hassan Ahmed; Tanvir Ashiq bt Mateen Arif 6-0, 6-1; Tanvir Munir bt Zaid Anis 6-1, 6-3, Saad Mubarak bt Atiq Qasim 6-1, 6-0; Ghulam Abbas bt Shakoor Khan 6-3, 6-1; Samad Baloch bt Khurram 6-2, 6-2