ISLAMABAD - Sara Mansoor, Ushna Suhail, Sarah Mahboob Khan and Mehak Khokhar moved to the Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan Memorial ATT Championship 2016 ladies singles semifinals, after defeating their respective opponents in the quarterfinals played here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Complex on Thursday.
Pakistan No 1 female player Sara Mansoor faced stiff resistance at the hands of 14-year-old Mahin Aftab in the first quarterfinal. Sara comfortably won the first set 6-1 by breaking 3rd and 5th games of Mahin by playing consistent tennis from the base line. Both the players displayed quality tennis in the second set and managed to hold onto their respective serves in the first 10 games. At that moment, Mahin lost concentration and her serve was broken by Sara, who took 6-5 lead and then managed to hold on to her serve, thus winning the second set 7-5 and the match in 1 hour and 25 minutes.
In the second quarterfinal, Mehaq Khokhar beat Khunsha Babar 6-3, 6-4 in a relatively easy match. Pakistan’s lone international player Ushna Suhail thrashed Esha Jawad 6-0, 6-0. Ushna, the title winner of BB Shaheed International Tennis event, found no difficulty in outclassing her opponent and won the encounter without losing a single point. In the last quarterfinal, Sarah Mahboob routed Bakhtawar Haider 6-1, 6-1. Sara Mansoor will face Mehak Khokhar, whereas Ushna Suhail will play against Sarah Mahboob in the semifinals today (Friday).
In the boys’ U-18 singles, Muzammil Murtaza, M Shoaib, Aman Attique Khan and Yousaf Khan advanced to the semifinals after beating their respective opponents. Top seed M Shoaib and second seed Hamza Bin Rehan will vie for top honours in the boys’ U-14 singles final, as they eliminated their respective opponents in the semifinals.
In boys’ U-10 semifinals, Hamid Israr beat M Talha Khan 4-0, 4-2 and Hamza Roman beat M Huzafia Khan 4-2, 5-4(7) 4-0. In the senior 45 doubles semifinals, Hameed-ul-Haq/Nouman Aleem beat Moinud Din Shah/Gul Hameed 6-3, 6-3 and Jehanzeb Khan/Israr Gul beat Lt Col Abjad/Col Shahid 6-3, 6-3.
