KARACHI, Jan 2: Lanky lefthander Saif Noor Somroo moved ahead in the men's singles event after a keen tussle with Ali Asghar in the Sindh Open tennis championship (ranking) at the Modern Club on Sunday.

With both players on the attack from the word go, Saif playing mostly from the baseline won the first set 6-3. Although taking the lead in the second, Ali had his service broken twice before surrendering the match 6-3, 6-4.

Joining Saif in the next round was Mubashir Afridi, who had to work up a sweat while overcoming Mateen Arif 6-4, 6-2 and Amir Ali Khan, who accounted for Zaid Noor 6-2, 6-4. Top seed Aqeel Khan moved into the quarterfinals after having an easy time against talented youngster Haris Iltafat 6-1, 6-1.

In the boys' under-17 event, Nasir Mushtaq after dropping the first set 4-6 against Daniyal Alvi, bounced back with some powerful ground strokes and service to grab the next two sets 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semi-final round. He was later joined by top seed Yasir Khan, after the lefthander overwhelmed Mustafa Jamal 6-0, 6-2.

Also moving into the semis was Ali Asghar Bande Ali, who had to bring out his best in finally silencing the unlucky Mubashir Afridi 7-5, 7-6 and Danish Ahmed, who had easier sailing against Jahangir Rashid 6-2, 6-2.

Nasir Mushtaq top seeded in the boys' under-15 event, made another semi-final entry, brushing aside Salman Ahmed 6-1, 6-1. Fourth seed Ghulam Abbas also reached the last four, with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Zain Saeed and Jahangir Rashid overcame the likes of Mustafa Jamali 6-3, 6-1.

Zuhair Raza the top seed in the boys' under-13 event, beat Salman Akbar 6-0, 6-0. But second seed Omer Shahid survived quite a scare, before beating Bilal Sharif 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. The top seeds were joined by Zarrukh and Mustafa Jamali, 6-1, 6-1 winners respectively over Ahsan Shahid and Adil Owais. Following were the results:

MEN'S SINGLES (FIRST ROUND): Mubashir Afridi beat Mateen Arif 6-4, 6-2. Amir Ali Khan beat Zaid Noor 6-2, 6-4. Saif Noor Somroo beat Ali Asghar 6-3, 6-4.