LAHORE: Sarah Mahboob trounced Sara Mansoor in straight sets to lift the ladies’ singles title in the second Shaharyar Malik National Grass Court Tennis Championship here at Punjab Lawn Tennis Association courts on Friday.

In the men’s singles, defending champion and veteran campaigner Aqeel Khan and Mohammad Abid qualified for the final after winning their respective semi-finals.

Sarah proved too good against Sara Mansoor, though the former faced some resistance in the second set before wrapping up the final 6-1, 7-6 (8).

Sarah comfortably seized the first set, dropping just one point. But she found a different Sara Mansoor in the second set as both struggled hard to get points. After being tied at 4-4 and then at 6-6, Sarah lifted her show to win the tiebreaker to claim the title in 30 minutes.

In the men’s singles semi-final, top seed Aqeel — looking in complete command — outclassed Muzammil Murtaza 6-3, 6-3.

Abid in the other semi-final struggled to overcome experienced Shahzad Khan as the former clinched the match 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

After Shahzad secured the first set quite easily, Abid staged a comeback to bag the second set. A close battle started in the third and decisive set which was eventually decided in tie-breaker.

Abid ultimately claimed the match lasting around one-and-a-half hour. The final will be played on Saturday.

Meanwhile in U-18 boys’ semi-finals, Saqib Omer of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Lahore’s Ahmed Kamil 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and Nauman Aftab of Karachi ousted KP’s Aaqib Omer 6-3, 6-3.

In U-14 semi-finals, Sami Zeb overcame Uzair Khan 6-0, 6-2 and Hamid Israr got the better of Abdul Hannan Khan 6-4, 6-1.

Hamid Israr also beat Ihtesham 8-3 in the U-12 semi-final. In the final, Hamid faces Bilal Asim who overpowered Huzaifa Khan 8-5 in the other last-four clash.

In U-10 last-four matches, Hamza Rouman downed Hamza Ali 8-5 and Abu Bakar Talha defeated Ihtesham Humayun 8-6.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2018