ISLAMABAD - Top seed Tayyab Aslam routed Bilal Zakir in the second round of the 12th DG Rangers (Sindh) National Squash 2018 at Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex North Nazimabad, Karachi on Wednesday.

It was expected that Bilal, who has won the Asian Junior team title for Pakistan and also has vast experience of playing in PSA events, would give tough fight to Tayyab, but it proved to be a one-sided affair, as Tayyab simply outclassed Bilal by 3-0. In the first game, Tayyab prevailed over Bilal and easily won the game 11-2. The second game was almost identical to the first one, as Tayyab was not in a mood to let Bilal off the hook and simply outclassed him to take the game 11-2.

After losing two games without showing any signs of fight, Bilal finally settled down and showed his class as he took heavy lead but Tayyab then changed gears and first level the score at 8-8 and then wrapped up the game by 11-8, thus registered an impressive 3-0 victory. Tayyab will now face Syed Ali Mujtaba Bukhari in the quarterfinal.

In other second round matches, Syed Ali Mujtaba Bukhari beat Noman Khan 3-1 in 34 minutes. Ali started the first game well and took it 11-8. But like witnessed so many times in the past, he allowed Noman too much freedom which helped his opponent win the game by 13-11. Ali recovered well in the third game and won it 11-7 and also took the fourth 11-7 to march on to quarterfinals.

Abdul Malik beat Saad Abdullah 3-2 in 42 minutes of highly entertaining squash. Malik staged remarkable comeback after going 0-2 down, as he came back strongly to win the next three games in a row. Malik lost the first game 7-11 and second by 8-11, before winning the third game 11-8, fourth by 11-6 and fifth by 11-6 to set quarterfinal date with Ahsan Ayaz, who outpaced Waqar Mehboob 3-0 in 23 minutes, winning the encounter by 11-8, 11-5 and 13-11.

Israr Ahmed beat M Farhan 3-0 as the score was 11-6, 11-6, 11-4. Israr will now play quarterfinal match against Zahir Shah, who beat Salman Saleem 3-0 in 18 minutes, winning 11-4, 11-4, 11-7. Ammad Fareed beat M Uzair Rasheed 3-2. Ammad had to struggle hard to tame Uzair. Ammad was 0-2 down as he lost first game 8-11 and second 9-11, but then he made classic comeback to win the third game 11-5, fourth 11-5 and fifth 11-4 to set quarterfinal date with second seed Asim Khan, who defeated Zeeshan Zeb by 3-1, as the score was 9-11, 11-6, 11-9 and 11-9.

In the ladies matches, top seed Riffat Khan outclassed Nimra Aqeel 3-0 in 16 minutes to set quarterfinal date with Komal Khan. Riffat took first game 11-2, won the second 11-9 and third 11-9. Komal Khan beat Ilsa Imran 3-1 in 21 minutes, winning the encounter by 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 and 11-4. Noor ul Huda beat Noorul Ain Ejaz 3-0 in 19 minutes, winning the match by 11-8, 11-6 and 17-15.

Rushana Mehboob beat Alisha Ibad 3-0 in 13 minutes, as the score was 11-0, 11-2 and 11-2, Fehmina Asim beat Noureena Shams 3-0 in 11 minutes with the scores of 11-1, 11-3 and 11-2, Saima Shoukat beat Zainab Khan 3-0 in 18 minutes, winning the match by 11-8, 11-7 and 11-4, Muqaddas Ashraf beat Aiman Shahbaz 3-0 in 20 minutes, 11-3, 11-6 and 11-6 and Anam Aziz beat Meyral Shaikh 3-0 in 11 minutes, winning 11-4, 11-7 and 11-4.