ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Shoaib caused a major upset in the Syed Tajammul Abbas ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championship on Tuesday when he elminated third-seeded Indian Neema Arthav in the second round here at the PTF Complex.

Shoaib’s powerful game from the baseline, laced with cross-court forehand and backhand returns, saw him win 6-1, 6-2 and saw Arthav breaking his racket at the end, and getting a penalty from the ITF supervisor as a result.

Top-seeded Ahmed Zyaan of Great Britain, meanwhile, eliminate Hamza Bin Rehan 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to join Shoaib in the quarter-finals.

Suresh Darrshan of Malaysia, the second seed, also booked his place in the last-eight with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Moosa Choudhry.

Huzaifa Abdul Rehman was another surprise quarter-finalist when he upset sixth seed Nouman Aftab 6-3, 6-4 while Saqib Hayat also progressed after he came from a set down to beat Chinese Taipei’s Wen Yi Chou 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Completing the final quartet were Rattanan Siritaworchar of Thailand, Canada’s Faisal Ghous and Cheng Wei Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Siritaworchar overcame Ahmed Asjad Qureshi in a thriller 3-6, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5), Faisal battled past Sami Zeb Khan 7-5, 6-1, while Chen crusied past Zalan Khan 6-1, 6-1.

Other results:

Boys’ doubles (first round): Nouman Aftab (Pakistan)/Yee Mathew (Hong Kong) bt Sami Zeb Khan/Subhan Bin Salik (both Pakistan) 6-3, 7-5;

Cheng Wei Chen/Chou Wen Yi (both Chinese Taipei) bt Moosa Choudhry/Zalan Khan (both Pakistan) 6-0, 6-0; Chang Cameron Austin (US)/Cheng Hsuni Lui (Chinese Taipei) bt M.Shehryar Ahmed/M.Zaryab Khan (both Pakistan)—walkover; Mohammad Shoaib/Saqib Hayat (both Pakistan) bt Hamza Bin Rehan/Ahmed Kamil (both Pakistan) 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 10-8.

Girls’ doubles (first round): Mert Aysegul/Toglukdemir Mina (both Turkey) bt Shimza Durab (Pakistan) & Srujana Rayarala (India) 6-0, 6-3; Aksu Semra/Bilgic Sedef (both Turkey) bt Nida Akram/Zahara Suleman (Pakistan) 6-0, 6-0; Ozseker Sevval (Turkey)/Piwbangruk Natthapat (Thailand) bt Zoha Asim (Pakistan) and Lajos Anna (Hungary)—walkover.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018