KARACHI: Qualifier Zahir Shah and unseeded Ali Bukhari, who created a sensation the other day, kept their unbeaten run intact by winning their second round matches before advancing into the semi-finals of the seventh Roshan Khan Open Squash – 2017 at the PN Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan Squash Complex on Thursday.

Two seeded players — second seed Amaad Fareed and fourth seed Israr Ahmed — justified their credentials while winning their respective matches to complete the semis quartet.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shah, who displayed awesome performance while getting the better of top seed Tayyab Aslam straight in the first round on Wednesday, continued his giant killing act by registering an emphatic 11-4, 11-9, 11-13, 17-15 victory over unseeded Ahsan Ayaz in 64-minute battle.

He is now drawn to face Bokhari of Punjab who fought back from a game down to post 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7 victory over Kashif Asif of the Sui Nothern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in another encounter.

It is pertinent to mention that Bokhari had sent third seed Asim Khan packing in the first round the other day.

Meanwhile, second seed Fareed of the SNGPL stormed to convincing 11-7, 11-4, 11-9 victory over Army’s Bilal Zakir in his match that lasted exactly half an hour.

Fourth seed Ahmed, also of the SNGPL cut Sindh’s wildcard Noman Khan to size coasting to 11-1, 11-2, 5-11, 11-8 victory in 32-minutes.

The two seeded players who are left in contention for the title, takes on each other in the second semi-final.

Results:

Quarter-finals: Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ahsan Ayaz (PIA) 11-4, 11-9, 11-13, 17-15; Ali Bukhari (Punjab) bt Kashif Asif (SNGPL) 7-11,11-8,11-9,11-7; Israr Ahmed (SNGPL) bt Noman Khan (SINDH) 11-1,11-2, 5-11,11-8; Amaad Fareed (SNGPL) bt Bilal Zakir (Army) 11-7,11-4, 11-9.

Friday’s fixtures:

Semi-finals: Zahir Shah v Ali Bukhari at 3pm; Israr Ahmed v Amaad Fareed 3.30pm.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017