ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: Top seed Sara Mahboob moved into the semifinals of the national women’s ranking tennis tournament on Wednesday with a straight sets knockout of Sara Mansoor on a day third seed Maira Rahim fell by the wayside. Sara playing intelligently, executed her strokes with perfection to score an easy 6-3, 6-4 victory on the clay courts of the PTF Complex but it was sixth seed Saba Aziz who shone with her upset of Maira.

Saba had to fight hard though for her 7-5, 6-4 victory over Maira while Natasha Afridi picked up a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over Nabiha Haq to also go through. Nida Rahim claimed the last semifinal place with remarkable ease, her victim being Fatima Mansoor who was dispatched 6-1, 6-1.

In the doubles competition, Sara Mahboob and Natasha Afridi advanced to the final beating Anoosha Aslam and Saba Aziz 6-4, 6- 2. However the other semifinal between Sara Mansoor-Zainab Khan and Maira Rahim-Nida Rahim remained unfinished because of bad light.

Maira and Nida had won the set but their advantage was neutralised by their opponents who fought back to win the second set. The final set will be played on Thursday, officials said.

Results (singles quarterfinals): Sara Mahboob bt Sara Mansoor 6- 3, 6-4, Saba Aziz bt Maira Rahim 7-5, 6-4, Natasha Afridi bt Nabiha Haq 6-3, 6-3, Nida Rahim bt Fatima Mansoor 6-1, 6-1. Doubles semifinals: Sara Mahboob-Natasha Afridi bt Saba Aziz- Anoosha Aslam 6-4, 6-2, Sara Mansoor-Zainab Khan and Maira Rahim- Nida Rahim (level one set all; match unfinished/bad light).

Under-17 singles: Mehak Khokhar bt Ifra Arshad 5-3, 4-1, Sara Mansoor w/o Iriba Arshad, Sara Mahboob bt Niha Arshad 4-0, 4-0.