Ammad reaches UAE Open semis

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Ammad Fareed reached the semi-finals of $5,000 5th UAE Open at Indian Social & Cultural Centre, Abu Dhabi, on Friday.

Unseeded Ammad, who recently won NSW Open, stunned fifth seed Sajad Zareian of Iran 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-3 in 60 minutes in the quarter-finals.

Earlier, he had surprised fourth seed Matias Tuomi of Finland 10-12, 14-12, 17-15, 11-4 in 75 minutes in the first round.

He will play against second seed Edmon Lopez of Spain in the last-four stage. Top seed Ammar Altamimi thrashed Pakistan’s Zeeshan Khan 11-8, 11-2, 11-2 in 25 minutes in their quarter-final.

In the first round, unseeded Zeeshan had stunned seventh seed Sandeep Ramachandran of India 11-3, 2-11, 11-7, 11-8 in 55 minutes. Eighth seed Robert Downer of England won against Pakistan’s qualifier Ali Bokhari 11-9, 11-7, 11-13, 11-1 in 50 minutes.