Ushna, Sara reach BM Pakistan Open Tennis semis

LAHORE: Ushna Suhail and Sara Mansoor earned sensational victories to quality for the semi-finals of the 3rd BM Pakistan Open Tennis Championship being played here at the PLTA courts.

In the ladies quarter-finals on Thursday, Sara outgunned Zoha Asim 6-2, 6-4. Sara dominated right from the start and took the first set 6-2 but she had to struggle hard to win the second set 6-4. Pakistan ladies national champion Ushna showed no mercy to Mariam Mirza, crushing her opponent 6-0, 6-0.

Asfa Shahbaz got a walkover against former number one Sarah Mahboob, who came from Islamabad to take part in the championship but withdrew from the event because of bad health.

The fourth and last quarter-final between Noor Malik and Esha Jawad was postponed because of bad light. It will be played on Friday (today).

In the men’s doubles quarter-finals, top seed Aqeel Khan and Shehzad Khan thrashed the pair of Talha Waheed and Sikandar Hayat 6-0, 6-0; Heera Ashiq and Abdaal Haider defeated Ahmad Chaudhry and Abid Ali Akbar 6-3, 2-6, 10-8; Muzamil Murtaza and Mudassar Murtaza routed Shakir Ullah and Imran Bhatti 6-2, 6-2.

Mohammad Abid and Waqas Malik edged out Ejaz Khan and Yousaf Khan 2-6, 6-2, 10-7. In the under-18 quarter-finals, Mohammad Shoaib toppled Parbhat Kumar 6-0, 7-5; Ahmad Kamil beat Aqib Hayat 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman trounced Abdullah Adnan 6-2, 6-2; and Saqib Hayat routed Shaeel Tahir 6-3, 6-3.

In under-14 semi-finals, Semi Zeb defeated Uzair Khan 6-3, 7-5, while Hamid Israr beat Farman Shakeel 6-2, 6-4. In under-12 semi-finals, Hamza Roman outclassed Ahmad Nael 8-1 and Bilal Asim thrashed Ehtesham Humayun 8-0.

In the senior doubles 45 plus semifinals, Rashid Malik/Fayyaz Khan edged past Maj Adnan/Arif Feroze 6-2, 7-5 while the senior doubles 60 plus semifinals saw Rai Zahid Zafar/Dr Naveed overpowering Maj Saeed/Mobeen Malik 6-1, 6-3 and Asad Niaz/Imran Noon toppling M Babar/Brig Ghazanfar 6-1, 6-3.