ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s Saqib Hayat stunned second seed Iranian Arya Roghani in straight sets in the ITF Pakistan Junior Tennis Championship 2018 here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Courts on Wednesday.
A total of 14 matches were played on the third day of the championship. Saqib was in awesome form and wasted very little time to brush aside second seed Arya Roghani 6-3, 6-4 while Huzafia Abdul Rehman eliminated Great Britain’s Ronan Shani, top seed Ivan Penev (BUL) thrashed Shoaib Khan and Berk Ulas ENC (TUR) outclassed Aryan Esmaielpurfallahi (IRI) as all qualified for the semi-finals.
In girls’ singles event, Zoha Asim (PAK) caused a major upset when she defeated second seed Melina Mehrani (IR) in a three-set match to move into the semi-finals. Both the players displayed quality tennis and showed their skills by playing excellent combination of forehand and backhand drives.
Un-seeded Hannah Kaile Shen (HKG) also shocked top seed Meshkatolzahra Safi (IRI) in three sets. Shen didn’t allow her opponent to settle down and grabbed the first set 6-1. Safi bounced back and won the second set 6-1. In the third and decisive set, Shen once again maintained her supremacy and won the set 6-2. Other semi-finalists are Sara Yigin and Mina Toglukdemir.
In the girls doubles semi-finals, Sie Ding Chain/Yiiwendan Zhu beat Zoha Asim/Shimza Durab 6-3, 3-6, 10-2 and Hannah Kaile Shen/Kushi Venkatesh beat Donya Ameri/Darya Mostofi 6-1, 7-5. In boys’ singles quarterfinals, Penev Ivan beat Shoaib Khan 6-4, 6-3, Berk Ulas beat Aryan Esmaielpurfallahi 6-3, 6-3, Huzaifa Abdul Rehman beat Ronan Sani 6-2, 6-2 and Saqib Hayat beat Arya Roghani 6-3, 6-4.