ISLAMABAD - Sarah Mehboob Khan thrashed Shimza Naz Durab in straight sets in the 33rd Federal Cup National Ranking Tennis Championship ladies singles semifinals here at Senator Dilawar Abbas PTF Complex on Monday.
Sarah, who had won the 5th Serena Hotels ladies singles title the other day, was playing the best tennis of her life and showed that she still had lot to offer and still by far the most talented player of the country. Shimza was also enjoying the best run of her career, as she had beaten fourth seed ZTBL’s Noor Malik, daughter of former Davis Cupper Rashid Malik, in the quarterfinals the other day.
Sarah started the first set well and put Shimza under immense pressure, which helped her take the set 6-3 in 25 minutes. The second set was not less than nightmare for young Shimza, as Sarah was playing simply world class tennis while Shimza was looking more than a spectator. Sarah was simply toying with Shimza and was playing winners, which were too hot for Shimza to handle as she grabbed the second set 6-0 in just 20 minutes.
In the second semifinal, Pakistan No 1 ladies player Sara Mansoor hammered Mehaq Khokhar in a one-sided encounter. Sara stunned Mehaq in the first set, winning it 6-0 in just 22 minutes. The second set was played on a high voltage, as both the players were matching fire-with-fire. It was superb exhibition of top class tennis on offer as both the girls were displaying tremendous fighting skills and it was pure class till the 12th game, when Sara finally broke Mehaq’s serve to win the match and set yet another final date with Sarah Mehboob.
In the men’s singles qualifying round matches, Irfanullah, Usman Ijaz, Mian Bilal, Jabir Ali, Jibran-ul-Haq, Emad Uddin, Kamran Khan and Hameed-ul-Haq booked their places for the main round.
The main draw of men’s singles was taken out by the tournament referee Arif Qureshi in the presence of all the ranked players. Top eight seed of men’s singles are Aqeel Khan, Muzammil Murtaza, Shahzad Khan, Mudassar Murtaza, Yousaf Khalil, Heera Ashiq, Ahmed Kamil and Muhammad Abid. The men’s singles first round matches will start today (Tuesday) at 9:30am.
In the men’s singles qualifying first round matches, Usman Ijaz beat M Bilal Farooq 8-2, Jabir Ali bet Pooyan Shateri 8-0, Kamran Khan beat Asadulah Karim 8-1, in the second qualifying round matches, Irfanullah beat Huzaima Abdul Rehman 8-3, Mian Bilal beat Azeem Khan 8-4, Emaduddin beat Talha Saqib 8-5, Hameed-ul-Haq beat Ahmed Murad 8-2, in the ladies singles semi-finals, Sarah Mehboob Khan beat Shimza Naz Durab 6-3 and 6-0 and Sara Mansoor beat Mehaq Khokhar 6-0 and 7-5.