ITF FUTURES TENNIS: Wehnelt upsets Noguchi to enter final

ISLAMABAD: Germany’s Kai Wehnelt surprised second seed Rio Noguchi of Japan in a hard fought three-set match to move into the final of the Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan ITF Futures (F-2) Tennis Championship here at the PTF Complex on Friday.

Wehnelt won 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to set a date with top seed Cheong-Eui Kim of Korea in the decider. Korean player got better of another Japan player Sora Fukuda 6-0, 6-3 in the other semi-final of the day.

The first semi-final however turned out to be a real battle of ascendency between the German and Japan player. Noguchi won the first set with the help of one break and then was seen nowhere around in the next two which Wehnelt bagged easily.

Pakistan pair of Abid Ali Akbar and Shamael Chaudhry made exit from the doubles event with straight set defeat. Serbia’s Darko Jandric and Korea’s Cheong-Eui Kim defeated Pakistani pair 6-2, 6-4.

The winners will now meet Japanese pair of Sora Fukuda and Rio Noguchi in the final. The Japanese pair beat Anton Chekhov of Russia and Kai Wehnelt of Germany 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, in the Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan National Ranking Tennis Tournament for ladies and juniors saw Ushna Suhail getting better of Sara Mansoor in three sets to move into the final. Ushna won 1-6, 6-4, 6-0.

She will now meet Sarah Mehboob in the decider. Sarah beat Shimza Naz 6-0, 6-2 in the other semi-final.

Results: Boys’ singles under-18 semi-finals: Mohammad Shoaib bt Musa Chaudhry 6-1, 6-4; Subhan bin Salik bt Sami Zeb 6-2, 6-2.

Boys’ singles under-14 semi-finals: Uzair Khan bt Kashan Umar 7-6 (4), 6-4; Sami Zeb bt Abdul Hanan 6-0, 6-1.

Ladies singles semi-finals: Ushna Suhail bt Sara Mansoor 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; Sarah Mahboob bt Shimza Naz 6-0, 6-2.