24-Dec-2011
The News
KARACHI: Fast rising Muhammad Abid Mushtaq showed his class when he downed second seed Yasir Khan in an exciting three set semi-final to storm into men’s singles final of the UBL International Hard Court Tennis Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.
Third seed Mushtaq from Lahore will now clash with Yasir’s elder brother Aqeel Khan in Saturday’s title match. In the other semifinal, Aqeel easily disposed of 7th seed Thangrajah Dinsehkant from Sri Lanka in straight sets. Mushtaq demonstrated a brilliant game and strong serve to emerge 2-1 winner. He won the first set 6-3 by breaking 8th game of Yasir with excellent volleys and ground strokes on the net.
Yasir won the second set in almost similar fashion 6-3 to draw level. In the decider, Mushtaq showed his brilliance and playing powerful serve and volley game completely unsettled Yasir and won the third set 6-1 to seize a place in the final of the even that has a prize money of Rs1 million.
Top seed and favourite Aqeel Khan faced no real challenge and had a straightforward 6-1, 6-2 victory against Thangrajah Dinsehkant. Aqeel displayed brilliant double hand, forehand, backhand drives from the base line to outplay his Sri Lankan rival after an hour’s encounter.
In the boys U-18 category, Syed Zohair Raza and Adil Kohari sailed into the final after winning their semi-finals in a contrasting fashion.
Third seed from Karachi Syed Zohair Raza made a major upset when he defeated Muhammad Muddasir of Multan without conceding a single game. During the match, Zohair showed excellent combination of volleys and smashed series of winners from the base line. Muddasir made a number of errors and paid the penalty.
Second seed Adil Kohari was involved in a three-set encounter with Ahmed Chaurdhry before carving out a thrilling win.
Maheen Dada and Saba Aziz reached the ladies singles final after registering easy victories in the semifinals. Top seed Syed Nofil Kaleem of Islamabad won the under-14 title when he defeated Dawar Rehan of Karachi in straight sets 6-3, 6-1. Nofil showed a great promise, notching-up 6-3, 6-1 win in 45 minutes. |
