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KARACHI, Jan 20: Davis Cupper and second seed Asim Shafik overcame slippery court conditions to outplay his opponent Shehzad Khan in three sets to enter pre-finals of Pakistan Open tennis championship at the CDGK Sports Complex on Saturday.
After conceding the opener 4-6, Asim was lucky to capitalise the opportunities to win the following two sets 6-3, 6-4.
“I had a firm grip on the match after grabbing the opener but it slipped due to poor surface as I failed to execute my shots properly,” a dejected Shehzad who has staged a comeback on the circuit after nursing ligament injury in right leg for a year told Dawn.
This was his third competition after comeback and first of his career at the CDGK complex. He made exit in semi-finals after losing to Aqeel and Asim at Lahore and Peshawar in the earlier two events.
Other seeded players also stormed into the last four after registering straight wins over their opponents.
Top seed Aqeel inflicted 6-2, 6-2 win over younger brother Yasir, second seed Jalil overcame M. Shafiq 6-3, 6-4 while fourth seed Nomi downed Tanvir Aashiq 6-4, 6-1. This was Nomi’s first match as he had got walkovers in the earlier two matches.
Aqeel faces Nomi while Jalil takes on Asim in the two pre-finals on Sunday.
Sara Mansoor, 18, became the first to cruise in ladies singles final after a hard fought 6-4, 6-4 victory over former Pakistan No 1 and almost double of her age Nyla Khan.
Upcoming Zuhair Raza who is top seed in boys U-15 and U-17 stormed in semi-finals of the two categories. His victim in U-15 was Nameer Shamsi who went down 2-6, 2-6 while he got a walkover against Hassan in U-17.
Omer Shahid and Sadanul Haq were also through to last four in boys U-15. They will be joined by the winner of Jibranul Haq and M. Abid’s match.
Khawaja Hamza and Ramiz Farishta advanced into boys U-13 semi-finals. Hamza prevailed over Shakil 7-5, 6-1, while Ramiz had no difficulty in beating Sheryar 6-1, 6-2.
Results:
Men’s singles (quarter-finals):
Aqeel Khan bt Yasir Khan 6-2, 6-1, Nomi Qamar bt Tanvir Aashiq (Lhr) 6-4, 6-1, Jalil Khan bt M. Shafiq (Sahiwal) 6-3, 6-4, Asim Shafik (Isb) bt Shehzad Khan (Faisalabad) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Ladies singles (semi-final):
Sara Mansoor (Isb) bt Nyla Khan 6-4, 6-4.
Boys U-15 singles (quarter-finals):
Zuhair Raza bt Nameer Shamsi 6-2, 6-2, Omer Shahid bt Abdul Rehman 6-1, 2-6, 6-0, Sadanul Haq (Isb) bt Anas Yousufzai 6-0 (retd).
Boys U-17 singles (quarter-finals):
Zuhair Raza w/o Hassan, Sadanul Haq (Isb) bt M. Abid 6-2, 6-4.
Boys U-13 singles (quarter-finals):
Khawaja Hamza bt Shakil 7-5, 6-1, Ramiz Farishta bt Sheryar Ahmed 6-1, 6-2.
Boys U-11 singles (first round):
Ehsan Shahid bt Murad 6-4, 7-6.
Girls U-17 singles (round robin matches):
Eman Malik bt Aliya Hai 6-3, 6-3, Zoya Khan bt Uzma Zakaria 7-6, 6-3.
Sunday’s fixtures:
Juniors U-17 singles (semi-finals), boys U-15 singles (semi-finals) 10am; men’s singles (semi-finals) 11am; boys U-13 singles (semi-finals) 12noon; ladies singles (semi-final) 1.30pm; men’s doubles 2pm; boys U-11 (final) 3pm.
