Samir upsets German to enter quarters

ISLAMABAD: Samir Iftikhar turned out to be the lone local survivor in the Serena Futures International I following emphatic victory over Julian Onken (Germany) to enter the quarter-finals here at the Centre Court of PTF Complex on Wednesday.
Samir rose to the occasion in brilliant fashion taming higher ranked German 6-1, 6-1. German was not only ranked amongst top 800 in the world, he was also seeded sixth in the competition.
Samir exhibited mature game, restoring to baseline tennis, hardly playing any rash shot in the process. On the contrary, he was seen waiting for opponent to commit mistake which he did in numbers.
Though lean looking Onken was not far behind in quality of baseline game, he sometimes tried to show exuberance, which ultimately resulted in his downfall.Samir, who emerged in the top 1000 ranked player in the world with this victory, was solid on all fronts hardly giving German an opportunity to come back in the match.
He had a tough task ahead of him as he is pitted against top seed Ivan Nedelko (Russia) in the quarter-finals.“I would try to continue with the same stamina in the quarter-final. My game suited to clay and I am happy that I defeated a higher ranked player,” Samir said after beating German.
Two other Pakistanis, who crossed first hurdle with ease, fell in the pre-quarters Wednesday. Muzammil Murtaza was beaten by top seed Ivan Nedelko (Russia) 6-3, 6-4. In the other match, Russian Shalva Dzhanashia defeated Abid Mushtaq 6-3, 6-3.
Pakistan No 1 Aqeel Khan pairing with Shahzad Khan cruised into the semi-finals of the doubles by beating their opponents.Results: Men’s singles pre quarter-finals: Ivan Nedelko (Rus) (1) bt Muzammil Murtaza (Pak) 6-3, 6-4; Peter Goldsteiner (Aut) (7) bt Kelsey Stevenson (Can) 6-2, 6-2; Kristian Lozan (Rus) (3) bt Gleb Alekseenko (Ukr) 6-1, 6-2; Alexander Lebedyn (Ukr) (8) bt Oleg Besednikov (Rus) 6-0, 6-2; Samir Iftikhar (Pak) bt Julian Onken (Ger) (6) 6-1, 6-1; Pere Riba (ESP) (4) bt Roy Hobbs (Sgp) 6-1, 6-0; Shalva Dzhanashia (Rus) (5) bt Muhammad Abid (Pak) 6-3, 6-3; David Perez Sanz (Esp) bt Beatnikolay Vylegzhanin (Rus) 6-1, 6-3.
Men’s doubles quarter-finals: David Perez Sanz (Esp)/Kelsey Stevenson (Can) (1) bt Oleg Besednikov (Rus)/Alexander Lebedyn (Ukr) 6-0, 6-2; Aqeel Khan (Pak)/Shahzad Khan (Pak) bt Fariduni Bakhodur (Tjk)/Roy Hobbs (Sgp) 6-1, 6-2; Luka Pavlovic (Fra)/Pere Riba (Esp) bt Vadim Alekseenko (Ukr)/Nikolay Vylegzhanin (Rus) 6-1, 3-6; Peter Goldsteiner (Aut)/Julian Onken (Ger) (2) bt Asad Kabir (Afg)/Yousaf Khalil (Pak) 6-1, 6-4.