ISLAMABAD - Mahin Qureshi created a history by reaching the ladies singles final of the Syed Tajammul Abbas ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championship 2018 and also winning the doubles title.

In the singles, Mahin defeated Turkish Bilgic Sedef 6-3, 6-4 to book berth in the final. The Pakistani junior player started her semifinal against Turkish Bilgic Sedef in great style. She played some forceful backhand passing volleys, while her first serve was also highly top class, which left Sedef guessing, as she had no answers to the pace and agility of her opponent. Mahin took the first set 6-3, by breaking 4th game of Sedef in 35 minutes.

In the second set, Mahin kept Sedef on the run and applied tremendous pressure on her. Sedef managed to hold onto her serves till the 10th game. Mahin was leading 5-4 when Sedef was serving to stay in the set and match, but Mahin played some aggressive shots, which stunned Sedef, who failed to hold onto her serve, which resulted in Mahin winning the set 6-4, thus won the semifinal in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

In the second semifinal, top seed Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Yun-Li had to dig deep to outshine Turkish Aysegul Mert, who played courageous tennis in the first set and never allowed top seed to dictate terms, but Yu utilized her experience and skills to take the set 7-5 by breaking 12th game of Aysegul. After playing her heart out, Aysegul lost momentum and was completely outclassed by Yu, who won the second set 6-2, as she broke 2nd and 4th games of Aysegul, the match lasted around 55 minutes.

Mahin, partnering with Yu-Yun-Li (TPE), then won the ladies doubles title in the girls doubles title by thrashing Aksu Semra (TUR)/Bilgic Sedef (TUR) 6-2, 6-1. It was a tennis lesson by Mahin/Yu, as they simply routed their Turkish opponents and clinched the title.

Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) patron Senator DIlawar Abbas, who is also lift-time senior vice president of Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), was the chief guest on the occasion and witnessed the top class tennis on offer.

In the boys’ singles semifinals, Pakistan’s lone hope Huzifa Abdul Rehman was beaten in straight sets by Cheng Wei-Chen. Huzifa displayed lot of courage and skills in the first set, which went down to the wire but Cheng then managed to break 12th game of Huziafa to take the set 7-5. Cheng was in full command in the second set and won it 6-1 by breaking 3rd and 5th games of Huzafia. In the second semifinal, second seed Malaysian Suresh Darrshan was in fine touch and registered straight sets win against Saqib Hayat of Pakistan 6-2, 6-3.

In the boys’ doubles semifinals, Mathew Yee (HKG)/M Nouman Aftab (PAK) and Rattanan Siritaworchar (THA)/Suresh Darrshan (MAS) moved into the final by winning their respective semifinals in straight sets. Mathew Yee (HKG)/M Nouman Aftab (PAK) beat Chang Cameron Austin (USA)/Cheng Hsuni Lui (TPE) 6-2, 6-1 while Rattanan Siritaworchar (THA)/Suresh Darrshan (MAS) beat Cheng Wei Chen (TPE)/Chou Wen Yi (TPE) 7-6(4), 7-5.