Ushna crowned women’s singles champ: Wehnhelt, Noguchi make it to BB Tennis final

ISLAMABAD: Second seed Rio Noguchi (Japan) set up Benazir Bhutto Shaheed ITF Futures Championships men’s single final against Germany’s Kai Wehnhelt following their victories in the pre-final at Islamabad Tennis Complex courts Friday.

Ushna Suhail emerged National women’s singles champion when she made short work of Sarah Mahboob winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.

Third seed Wehnhelt had rather easy straight set win against Saida’lo Saidkarimov (UZB) 6-0, 7-5 while Rio Noguchi (JPN) worked hard to beat Hamidreza Nadaf (IRI) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. The German already had first laugh as together with Anton Chekhov (Russian) he annexed men’s doubles title beating Japanese pair of Ken Onishi/Rio Noguchi 6-3, 7-5. German and Russian duo put up forceful show in the doubles managing to break their opponents serve once in the first set. In second neck and neck fight, the Wehnhelt and his partner restored to forceful tennis breaking their opponent in the extended set to take the match and doubles title.

“Winning doubles match against the opponent who would be there in the singles final is good omen. I hope to play with the same vein in the singles final as well,” Wehnhelt said. The German also enjoys upper hand against Noguchi in the single as in their previous meeting last week, he defeated Japanese in three sets to make it to the semis. “I have beaten him in last Futures international and hopefully would repeat my performance again,” Wehnhelt said. He was seen at his best in the men’s single semis where he managed easy win against his opponent. Noguchi who somewhat happened to be inconsistent got better of Iranian opponent. It was in the second set in the semis that Noguchi struggled to match the Iranian. In ladies singles final that was played for National Championship, Ushna Suhail again proved too good for Sarah Mahboob winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.

Results: Men’s singles (semifinals): Kai Wehnhelt (GER) bt Saida’lo Saidkarimov (UZB) 6-0, 7-5; Rio Noguchi (JPN) bt Hamidreza Nadaf (IRI) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3.

Men’s doubles final: Anton Chekhov (RUS)/Kai Wehnelt (GER) bt Ken Onishi (JPN)/Rio Noguchi (JPN) 6-3, 7-5.

Women’s singles final: Ushna Suhail bt Sarah Mahboob 6-0, 6-4.

Boys Singles U-18 (semifinals): Shoaib Khan bt Abdullah Adnan 6-3, 7-5; Ahmed Kamil bt Ahmed Asjad 7-5, 2-6, 6-4;

Boys Singles U-14 (Final): Sami Zeb bt Hamza Roman 6-2, 6-3.

Boys/girls singles u-10 (final): Hamza Roman bt Ali Zain 4-0, 4-0.