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KARACHI: At least three seeded players, including a Sri Lankan, bit the dust as others were advanced in the UBL international hard court tennis championship at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.
Local teenager and fifth seed, Hassan Farooq, shocked second seed Mohammad Muzammil imposing to 6-2, 6-1 victory to make it to the boys’ under-14 singles last four where he meets seventh seed Dawar Rehan, who toppled third seed Hamza bin Asif 6-2, 6-3.
Top seed Syed Nofil Kaleem lived up to his billing by getting the better of Nazif Ahmed 6-1, 6-1 to propel into last four. He now meets Azher Abdul Qadir who disposed of Shazil Malik 6-0, 6-2.
Unseeded Khurram Nazir of Lahore prevailed over Sri Lankan Nadaraja Nishangan in three set duel 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to sneak into men’s singles last eight.
His contemporary Madusha Wijesuriya went down straight to top seed Aqeel Khan 6-2, 6-1 while top Lankan player Thangarjah Nishangan recovered from a set down to inflict 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 defeat on Mohammad Waqas Malik.
Other seeded players who were through to quarter-finals were Yasir Khan, M. Abid Mushtaq, Imran Shaukat, Hameed-ul-Haq and Heera Ashiq.
All the top eight seeded players, including the duo of Nadaraja Nishangan and Madusha Wijesuriya, walked into juniors’ under-18 quarter-finals with ease the only exception was Ahmed Chaudhray who got a walkover against M. Zubaid.
Meanwhile, the ladies singles pre quarter-finals witnessed five walkovers.
The men’s doubles and veteran’s 45 plus doubles also commenced on Tuesday.
Results:
Men’s singles:
Pre quarter-finals: Aqeel Khan bt Madusha Wijesuriya (Sri Lanka) 6-2, 6-1; Mohammad Abid Mushtaq bt Malik Abdul Rehman 6-2, 6-1; Yasir Khan bt Ahmed Chaudhary 6-3, 6-1; Thangarjah Nishangan (Sri Lanka) bt Mohammad Waqas Malik 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Heera Ashiq bt Syed Zohair Raza 6-2, 7-5; Khurram Nazir bt Nadaraja Nishangan (Sri Lanka) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Imran Shaukat bt Ahmed Babar 6-2, 7-5, Hamid-ul-Haq bt Rashid Malik 1-6, 1-0 (retired). Junior under-18 singles: Pre quarter-finals: Adil Kohari bt Mian Bilal 6-2, 7-5; Kashan-ul-Haq bt Saad Noor Samar 6-1, 7-5; Mohammad Muddasar bt Mohammad Mazhar 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2; Ahmed Chaudhary bt M. Zubaid (walkover); Ahmed Baber bt Zubair Gul 6-1, 6-2; Syed Zohair Raza bt Malik Hamza 6-0, 6-2; Nadaraja Nishangan (Sri Lanka) bt Mohammad Muzammil 6-1, 6-1; Madusha Wijesuriya (Sri Lanka) bt Nurad Khan 6-2, 6-2.
Ladies singles:
Pre quarter-finals: Sara Ahmed bt Aly Saleem (walkover); Wania bt Iman Qureshi (walkover); Hasindhi Lokugi (Sri Lanka) bt Rida Khalid (walkover); Hania Naveed bt Khadija Khan (Sri Lanka) 6-1, 6-0; Saba Aziz bt Tooba (walkover); Hajra Nadeem bt bt Ayesh Mir (walkover); Urooj Iltifat bt Neha Khan 6-1, 6-1; Maheen Dada bt Shahida Farooq 6-0, 6-0. Boys’ under-14 singles: Quarter-finals: Azhar Abdul Qadar bt Shahzil Malik 6-0, 6-2; Dawar Rehan bt Hamza bin Asif 6-2, 6-3; Hassan Farooq bt Mohammad Muzammil 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-2; Syed Nofil Kaleem bt Nazif Ahmed 6-1, 6-1.
Men’s doubles:
Pre quarter-finals: Saad Baloch and Dr. Umer Kazi bt Muzaffar Nawab and Abdul Majeed 6-3, 6-3; Mohammad Abid Mushtaq and Usman Rafiq bt Abdul Rehman Malik and Ali Murad 6-1, 6-4; Heera Ashiq and Thangarjah Dineshkant bt Khurram Nazir and Khalid Ali Nazar 6-1, 7-6 (5); Rashid Malik and Hameed-ul-Haq bt Ejaz Sarhadi and Mohammad Manzer 6-0, 6-1; Nomi Qamar and Mohammad Waqas Malik bt Imran Ahmed and Raza Ali Mirza 6-3, 4-6, 12-10; Imran Shaukat and Kamran Khalil bt Noman-ul-Haq and Sikander Hayat 6-0, 6-2; Ali Hasan Bhagat and Kaleem Ghanchi bt Mohammad Irfan Afzal and Zaheeruddin (walkover). Veteran’s 45 plus doubles: Pre quarter-finals: Khalid and Hanif Habib bt Arif Anis and Iltifat 6-0, 6-4; Zafar Hasan and Javed Iqbal bt Qamar Khan and Noorullah Dhanani 7-6 (2), 6-1. Wednesday’s fixtures: Men’s singles and juniors’ under-18 singles at 9.30am
