Farrukh was defeated but not disgraced as he came from behind in all the four games forcing experienced Mansoor to break sweat in a marathon 73-minute thriller which kept packed-to-capacity crowd on the edge of their seats.
Farrukh, an up-and-coming youth proved himself as yet another future champion not only in Saturday’s semifinal, but also when he ousted fourth seed French Renan Lavigne in the first round and runner-up world No 25 Egypt’s Mohammad Abbas in the quarterfinal.
The first game, in which Mansoor seemed to be in control right from the very beginning, took a dramatic turn when the score was 14-8 with Farrukh trailing behind his cousin.
The 20-year-old Farrukh changed gear from then on and produced an amazing display to come from 8-14 down to tie the score at 14-all with a splendid nick. Mansoor, who had complete command over the situation before, was subdued by Farrukh whose power shots earned him a deserved 17-14 win.
Like the first game, world No 15 Mansoor began the second on a confident note by leading 13-10 when once again world No 41 Farrukh, aided by powerful strokes, threw down the gauntlet and made it 13-all.
Farrukh could have easily gone ahead but perhaps was excited or over-enthusiastic as he hit the ball down while unbalanced Mansoor was unable to play. The promising youngster, however, showed class levelling 14-all and then making it 15-14.
Mansoor, the 22-year-old former junior Asian champion, who had an edge over Farrukh being more experienced than his gutsy rival, levelled 15-15 and then proved his mental as well as physical toughness by winning the game 17-15.
Although left-handed Mansoor, a scion of former world and British Open champion Qamar Zaman, did not face the kind of resistance he was offered in the first two games, Farrukh exuded confidence in the third and went on equalising 4-4 and 5-5.
Pakistan’s top-ranked Mansoor this time gave precocious Farrukh no further chance and won the third game 15-11 executing a smashing cross court shot.
Going all out against Mansoor in the fourth game, Farrukh, who seemed to be disturbed by some calls by referee, once again showed promise when he put the score on an even keel at 3-3.
However, Mansoor, while leading 7-4, was deprived of a point when referee did not give a call when a stroke by Farrukh went out. Farrukh eventually earned a point to make it 5-7.
Once again Mansoor had to utilise every ounce of energy when Farrukh forced him to dig deep by coming from 9-14 deficit to 13- 14 and then earning yet another precious point to tie at 14-all when awarded a stroke.
The seesaw game proceeded with Mansoor securing another point to make it 15-14. However, the fourth game was almost the replay of the first and second as Farrukh’s brilliant cross court shot again tied the score at 15-all.
The nerve-racking skirmish ended with Mansoor eventually emerging a 17-15 winner.
Earlier, top seed Gregory Gaultier of France took 49 minutes to outplay third seed England’s Adrian Grant 15-5, 15-11, 15-9 in the first semifinal.
Grant was an easy prey for Gaultier as the Englishman showed resistance only in the third game.
The final between Mansoor and Gaultier has been re-scheduled by the organizers as PTV would be busy covering the day/night Pakistan-Bangladesh One-day cricket match in Karachi. It would now be played on Monday at 4.30pm instead of Sunday.
Results (semifinals):
Gregory Gaultier (France) bt Adrian Grant (England) 15-5, 15- 11, 15-9; Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan) bt Farrukh Zaman (Pakistan) 14-17, 17-15, 15-11, 17-15.