KARACHI, Oct 22: Wasif Cheema registered the first upset in the Sixth UBL Salma Noorani Ranking Tennis Championship, when he downed fifth seed M. Shafiq of Sahiwal in three gruelling sets which lasted for a marathon two and half hours at the Karachi Club on Tuesday.

On the No.1 Salma Noorani hard court, Wasif won a closely fought out opening set 6-4, but lost the next set 4-6, after dropping his service in another close encounter

The final set had the tennis fans cheering to the echo, when both players refusing to budge an inch, raced neck and neck. Finally Wasif with a swift backhand volley following it up with a cross court smash, won the final frame 7-6, to book his place in the pre-quarter-finals.

Another upset was in store later in the evening, when bespectacled Khalid Ali Nazar, from the Karachi Gymkhana, sent seventh seed Inam Gul from Peshawar, crashing out in three sets, in a match lasting three long hours.

On another hot afternoon, Khalid won the first set 6-2. Stung into action Inam came storming back and with some clever cross court smashes took the next set 6-7 to level the scores 1-1.

Inam tried hard to stay in contention but ran out of steam in the final set as Khalid won 6-3 to move into the last 16.

Israr Gul, also from Peshawar continued on his winning spree by eliminating Yasir 6-4, 6-4, while Asad Ali Bhagat after a close call in the first set, took the next easily against his opponent M. Manzer.

In another match that went the distance, Hasan Mahmood came from behind to down Muteeb Pasha 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, and Adnan Khan got the better of Peshawar’s Iqbal Khan 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. Second seed Nomi Qamar also booked his berth into the next round by ending the pretensions of Ahmed Hussain.

Under floodlights Aqeel Khan eliminated Usman Ejaz 6-1, 6-2 and the third seed Rashid Malik, blotted out Essa Jee 6-1, 6-1.

In the ladies singles, Seher Khwaja beat Shabana in straight sets without dropping a point and the same could be said about Zarmeen, who shut out Mahrukh.

In two other matches played Nida beat Beenish and Mariam got the better of Saima.

Following were the results:

Men’s Singles (Third Round).

Israr Gul beat Yasir 6-4, 6-4. Irfanullah beat Wakeel Khan 6-2, 6-2. Jalil Khan beat Amjad Khan 6-2, 6-2. Asad Ali Bhagat beat M. Manzar 7-6, 6-1. Wasif Cheema beat M. Shafiq 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7). Shahzad Khan beat Munir 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Shahid Afridi beat Amir Ali 6-2, 6-2. Shahid Khan beat Gul Hameed 6-1, 6-1. Khalid Ali beat Inam Gul 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3. Hasan Mahmood beat Muteeb Pasha 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. Adnan Khan beat Iqbal Khan 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, Nomi Qamar beat Ahmed Hussain 6-3, 6-4. Aqeel Khan beat Usman Ejaz 6-1, 6-2. Rashid Malik beat Essa Jee 6-1, 6-1.

Ladies Singles

Seher Khwaja beat Shabana 6-0, 6-0. Zarmeen beat Mahrukh 6-0, 6-0. Nida beat Beenish 6-2, 6-2, Mariam beat Saima 6-2, 6-0.

Boys Under-14

Haris Iltifat beat Ahmed Aslam 6-1, 6-3, Ghulam Abbas beat S. Abbas Raza 6-0. 6-0, Usman Ijaz beat Amir Arif 6-1, 6-0, Nasi Mushtaq w/o Hasan Ahmed. Yasir Khan w/o Sabir Hussain.