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ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Sara Mahboob and Nida Rahim swept into the singles final of the women’s National ranking tournament at the PTF Complex on Thursday. The 14-year-old Sara underlined her status as Pakistan No. 1 by reaching what was her fourth successive final with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Saba Aziz.
Sara took the first set comfortably but in the second Saba put up a stiff resistance and built up a winning 5-2 lead. But Sara, executing powerful strokes roared back to snatch the set and go marching into the final.
The passage through to the final was quite tough for Nida who managed to squeeze past Natasha Afridi 6-3, 7-6(3).
After losing the first set, Natasha led 5-2 in the second and was serving for the set but Nida made a remarkable comeback and won in a tiebreak.
In the doubles event, Sara Mansoor and Zainab Khan advanced to the final by upsetting second seed Maira Rahim and Nida Rahim 3- 6, 6-4, 6-4. The winners face Sara Mahboob and Natasha Afridi in the final on Friday.
Results singles semifinals:
Sara Mahboob bt Saba Aziz 6-3, 7-5, Nida Rahim bt Natasha Afridi 6-3, 7-6 (3) Doubles semifinal: Sara Mansoor-Zainab Khan bt Maira Rahim-Nida Rahim 3-6, 6-4,6-4. Girls under-17 singles quarterfinals: Nida Rahim bt Sara Mahboob 3-5, 5-4(7), 5-4(3), Anoosha Aslam bt Mehak Khokhar 4-0, 4-1, Natasha Afridi bt Maira Rahim 4-2, 4-1, Sara Mansoor bt Saba Aziz 4-2, 5-3.
