KARACHI, June 10: In an absolute tennis thriller that had the fans glued to their seats, Haris Iltifat finally got the better of Ali Asghar Bandeali in three gruelling sets , at the Second Caltex Open Tennis Sindh Ranking Tournament played on Thursday evening at the hard courts of the Karachi Club.

With both players attacking from the baseline, Haris pinched the first set 6-3, but found Ali a different cup of tea in the next set surrendering the second 3-6, which enabled Ali to draw abreast 1-1.

In the final set both players were locked 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 before Ali received severe cramps and lay down flat in the court in great discomfort. Although it took awhile to get him motivated again, Ali was not the same player limping around the court.

Pouncing down like a marauding hawk Haris seized the iniative, taking the next three games in the final set 6-3. Another match that went to the wire when Hasan Ahmed sent a fright through the spine of top seed Talha Dar before bowing out in three sets in a marathon lasting three and half hours, in the Boys under-15 event.

Talha a strapping lad from Hyderabad fought hard to win the first set 6-3, but was completely taken aback when Hasan relying heavily on his first service and cross court smashes levelled the scores 1-1, picking up the second set 6-4.

But Talha in a never say die mode fought on like a true champion which forced the final set into a tiebreaker. Talha finally prevailed 7-4 on the tiebreaker.

Jehangir Rashid caused a mild surprise, after beating Daniyal Alvi 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Perhaps Daniyal ran out of steam after beating S.M. Naeem 6-1, 6-3 in the Boys under-17 event and then joined his partner Ali Asghar Bandeali In the Boys under-15 Doubles, where the pair accounted for Matin Arif and Jehangir Rashid 6-4, 7-5.

Another youngster stretched to the limits to play three matches was bespectacled 13-year-old Ghulam Abbas Panju. But the Karachi Grammar School student managed to come through successfully in all three matches.

In the Boys under-17, Ghulam made a triumphant entry into the quarter -finals, when his opponent Hasan Ahmed retired in the second set 0-1, after losing the first set 1-6. Sana Mughal playing in only her second tournament, was no match for Aley Zehra Mehdi losing 6-1 6-0.

Following were the results on Thursday.

MEN'S SINGLES: Sohail Kiani beat Fahad Shaukat 6-4, 6-4. Asim Jawed beat Karim Gul Agha 6-0, 6-1.