ISLAMABAD - Wapda’s unseeded Sadia Gul made the second big upset in the event as she beat third seed Muqaddas Ashraf 3-1 in the semifinals of the Southend-Pepsi Women Open Squash 2013 at Southend Club, Karachi on Saturday to book final date with another bright female player Riffat Khan.
Sadia was under enormous pressure as she had lost against the same opponent in the previous encounter in Peshawar, she wanted to prove a point, which she managed to achieve and that too in style. Talking to The Nation, Sadia said: “After ousting top seed Zoya Khalid in the quarterfinals, my confidence was sky high and I was pretty sure to beat Muqaddas at any given place.”
The first game started at brisk pace as Muqaddas settled down quickly and started dictating terms in the initial part of the game but Sadia responded well and race on to take the first game 11-6 and then also won the second 11-7. Muqaddas then bounced back and won the third game 11-7 but Sadia was in no mood to let her opponent off the hook so she played some powerful shots and superb game and won the game 11-7, thus won the semifinal.
In the second semifinal, Riffat Khan of ZTBL beat experienced Saima Shoukat of Wapda after a tough five-game battle, winning 3-2 in 42 minutes. Riffat lost the first game 7-11, but she bounced back to take the second game 11-6. Saima once again upped the tempo of her game and took the third 11-6.
In do-or-die situation, Riffat was stretched to the limits in the fourth game as she finally prevailed to take the fourth game 12-10, thus took the grueling encounter into fifth and deciding game. Riffat lashed on to a costly mistake of Saima and won the game 11-9 to move to the final of the event.
The final will be played today (Sunday) at 4pm and Abdul Wahab chief executive Southend Club will be the chief guest at the occasion and distribute prizes among the players.