KARACHI, Oct 20: The men’s singles matches in the sixth Salma Noorani National Ranking tennis tournament saw one-sided affairs at Karachi Club here Sunday.
Asad Ali Bhagat booked a place for himself in the next round by overwhelming Steve Jonathan 6-2, 6-0, Yasir Khan beat Hamza Tariq 6-0, 6-2, Israr Gul defeated Ather Iltifat 6-0, 6-4,Aamir Ali Khan ousted Taimoor Khan 6-4, 6-2 while Gul Hameed eased past Ahmed Hammad 6-1, 6-0.
Earlier, the championship was formally declared open by Yousuf Suleman, Sports Convener, Karachi Club and Dr. Ahsan H. Khan of UBL.
Munawar Noorani, son of late Salma Noorani and patron of the tournament was also present on the occasion and reminded the players that this tournament carried the highest purse in any championship in the country with total prize money amounting to Rs 205,500, with the winner of the men’s singles taking home 50,000.
The winner of the ladies event will receive Rs 25,000 while the boy’s under-18 champion will be richer by Rs 20.000.
On Monday, the men’s singles will be played from 9.00am to 6.00pm and the junior singles first round will commence from 1.00 pm onwards.
Results:
Boys’ Under-14: M. Ahmed Aslam (Lahore) beat Asad Ali Matcheswala 7-5, 6-3; Shahrukh Qureshi beat Saad Nasir 6-2, 6-1; Usman Ijaz beat M. Abbas 6-0, 6-1; Mustafa Nanji beat Abbas Raza 7-5, 1-6, 6-4; Ali Asghar beat Noman Ali 6-1, 6-2; Aamir Ali Khan beat Anil Das 6-3, 2-0 — retired; Nasir Mushtaq beat Jahangir 6-4, 6-4; Sabir Hussain beat Sajid Ahmed 6-2, 2-6, 7-6.
