LAHORE Pakistans latest tennis sensation Samir Iftikhar staged the biggest upset of his career when he defeated world number 217 and tournaments sixth seed from New Zealand Jamie EcCeltton in the third round of the ITF World Ranking Grade-III Auckland Open, New Zealand on Wednesday. Samir with his straight sets 6-4, 6-1 victory has now moved into the quarter-finals of one of the prestigious tournaments of the ITF junior world ranking tennis circuit, said reports received here. However, his win brought some consolation to the country for the cricket loss by proving that he is a force to reckon with. He has still to achieve many a miles before entering the final. Samir will now face second seed and world 80th ranked Ben Wagland from Australia in the semi-finals and if he maintains his win spree he would be the first Pakistan player to have made the Auckland Junior Tennis Open finals. The British born 403rd ranked youngster on his maiden appearance in the elite grade-III ITF event faced the local favourite and much experienced ranked local player to the wall exhibiting world class tennis to cause major upset of the tournament. The first set proved to be a thriller for the local crowd as Samir was broken in the fourth game and trailed 1-4 but fought back gallantly and broke the Kiwis service twice with magnificent passing shots and ground strokes and won the first set 6-4. The second set started with both players holding serves till two games all when Samir broke EcCeltton in the fifth and seventh game and never gave the Kiwi a chance to settle down and clinched the set and the match at 6-1. Samir, who is the grandson of Great Indo-Pak Tennis Legend Kh Iftikhar Ahmad and son of former Davis Cupper Tayyab Iftikhar, has been described as the world class talent by tennis pundits. And due to his excellent performance in the World Junior Tennis Circuit, Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jhakhrani awarded him half a million rupees to participate in the Australian Open Grand Slam where he was the only junior since 1998 to be accepted after his cousin Aisamul Haq Qureshi. Earlier in the first round, Samir brought down the curtains on Australian Andrew Zeddie in straight sets. He pushed the Australian out in the ITF World Ranking Grade-III 6-1, 6-4. He broke Australians serve in the third and fifth games of the first set and dominated it with huge serves and ground strokes. He won the first set at 6-3. In the second set, Samir broke his opponents serve in the eight-game tie with powerful backhand down the line shots and held his service with two aces to win the second set and match at 6-4.