Straight-games win sends Noor Zaman into Charlottesville semifinals

KARACHI: Pakistan's Noor Zaman marched into the Charlottesville Open semifinals with a straight-games win over Egypt's third seed Yahya Elnawasany on Thursday.

The eighth seed needed just 35 minutes to complete a clinical 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 victory in their quarterfinal.

Zaman, 21, will now face American top seed Timothy Brownell in the last four. Brownell booked his place by defeating India’s Veer Chotrani 3-1 (11-6, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6) in 41 minutes.

In other quarterfinal results, England’s Sam Todd overcame Argentina’s Leandro Romiglio 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-8) while Egypt’s Salman Khalil knocked out fourth seed Velavan Senthilkumar of India 3-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3).

The Charlottesville Open, which carries a total prize purse of $31,250, is part of the PSA World Tour series.

Zaman stormed into the Charlottesville Open quarter-final with a resounding 3-1 victory over England’s Tom Walsh on Thursday.

The in-form player, who received a first-round bye, started the game on a high as he sealed a hard-fought opening set 13-11, while completely outclassing Walsh 11-5 in the second.

The Englishman pulled one back by sealing the third set 11-5, only for Zaman to clinch the fourth and round up a comprehensive victory to book his spot in the quarter-final.

Notably, Zaman is riding high on confidence after clinching the Nash Cup in Canada last week, another PSA World Tour event.

The 21-year-old, seeded fifth, stunned the tournament’s No. 2 seed 3-0 in a gripping 52-minute contest.

Noor Zaman edged a marathon first game 19-17 before sealing the match with 11-7 and 11-9 wins. The triumph marked a significant milestone for the reigning World U23 Champion.

On the other hand, Zaman’s compatriots Ashab Irfan and Asim Khan suffered defeats in their respective Round of 16 matches and were thus knocked out of the tournament.

Asim suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of top seed Timothy Brownell, while India’s Veer Chotrani crushed Ashab 3-1.