KARACHI: Raahim Veqar dominated the fourth day of the 20th KC Westbury National Seni­ors and Juniors Ten­nis Championships here at the Karachi Club on Wednesday.

In an impressive display, Raahim secured a place in the U-18 quarter-finals by convincingly defeating Rashid Ali Bachani from Hyderabad 6-0, 6-1. Joining him in the last-eight was Taimoor Ansari, who emerged victorious over Shamoon Hidayat 6-3, 6-2. Ejaz Abbasi also advanced by defeating Laraib Shamsi 6-2, 6-3 while Muneer Derbari from Hyderabad triumphed over Karash Kumar 6-1, 6-2, securing his spot in the quarters.

In the boys’ U-14 singles pre-quarters, Ismail Aftab showcased his dominance with a resounding 4-1, 4-0 victory against AbuBaker Admani. Nibras Malik also adva­nced as he overpowered Abdul Malik 4-1, 4-1.

In the girls’ U-14 first-round matches, Eshal Zain achieved a flawless 4-0, 4-0 victory against Aysha Ather.

Meanwhile, in the boys’ U-12 round-of-16, Rashid bounced back with a 4-1, 4-1 win over Nabeel Bhand and AbuBaker redeemed himself with a 4-0, 4-1 victory over Maaz Areejo from Hyderabad. Abdul Baseer and Majid Ali Bachani from Hyderabad also secured victories in their respective matches.

In the Juniors U-18 doubles first-round, Muza­mmil Bhand and Muneer Derbari teamed up to secure an 8-6 victory against the pair of Ejaz Abbasi and Shamoon. Raahim, alongside Samer Zaman, emerged triumphant with an 8-4 win over the duo of Rayan Ahmed and Rayan Khan.

Raahim’s winning str­eak continued as he edged out Vinod Das with a nail-biting 9-8 victory in the men’s single quarters.

The men’s doubles categories also witnessed thrilling matches, with notable wins for the teams of Nam­eer Shamsi and Bakar Ali, Ibrahim Iltifat and Bilal Soomro, as well as Zubair Raja and Taha Bande Ali.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023