Asif, Sajjad survive stumble; Ahsan, Mubashir cruise into semis

KARACHI: Unseeded Ahsan Javaid toppled third seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, while seventh seed Muhammad Asif survived a scare at the hands of unseeded Muhammad Shahbaz in the quarter-finals of the 11th edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2019, here at the NBP Sport Complex on Thursday.

In the other quarter-finals, Muhammad Sajjad edged out Ahsan Ramzan after a grueling nine-frame battle, while Mubashir Raza overcame Naseem Akhtar rather comfortably. Both the semi-finals, to be best-of-11-frame encounters, will be played simultaneously in the morning session, from 10 am, on Friday (today). The final, to be telecast live on Geo Super, will be held on Saturday (tomorrow).

Following the exit of Zulfiqar Qadir, Muhammad Asif, a former world champion, remains the only seeded cueist to advance to the last four. Defending champion and sixth seed Muhammad Ijaz and second seed Asjad Iqbal were knocked over in the pre-quarter-finals, while top seeded Muhammad Bilal, alongwith three other seeds, Ali Haider, Babar Masih and Agha Bilawal, failed to make it to the knockout rounds.

Two of the four quarter-finals went to the full distance of nine frames. Muhammad Asif outwitted Muhammad Shahbaz 5-4 with the scores of 71-25, 50-41, 32-94, 40-102, 41-63, 58-2, 58-32, 17-93, 125-3, while Muhammad Sajjad elbowed out Ahsan Ramzan 5-4 with the scores of 37-64, 60-51, 54-69, 71-36, 16-85, 68-64, 47-79, 71-43, 103-20.

Asif drew the first blood without much sweating but he was made to work hard to double his lead. Not overawed by the big reputation of his opponent, Shahbaz came back strongly by winning the next three frames on a trot to stun the audience. It included massive breaks of 93 and 96 in successive frames.

Having faced tougher fights in his illustrious career, Asif didn’t lose his calm or composure as he won the next couple of frames to move into 4-3 lead. But there was a definite element of surprise when Shahbaz chalked up a break of 83, under pressure, to draw level and take the match into the decisive ninth frame.

Asif stayed as cool as a cucumber and didn’t pass any hint of nerves as he fired a sensational break of 124 in the final frame to settle the issue. A similar duel took place on another table at the same time between Muhammad Sajjad and Ahsan Ramzan. Although neither of them was seeded for the competition but Sajjad, a former world number two, definitely had loads of experience compared to his rival.

But it was the little known Ahsan who opened the scoring by clinching the opening frame. Sajjad narrowly won the next frame to draw level but Ahsan pressed home the advantage in the third frame. Sajjad restored parity by pocketing the next frame but Ahsan once put his nose in front, with the help of a break of 77 in the fifth frame.

Sajjad was extremely lucky to win the sixth frame but he was beaten in the next frame once more. The momentum at this moment was with Ahsan as he enjoyed 4-3 lead and needed just one more frame to complete the most famous win of his career yet.

It was at this point where Sajjad brought all his expertise into play. He survived the eighth frame with a break of 50 and then smashed a break of 103 in the decisive ninth frame to shatter Ahsan’s dream.

There was no such drama or tension in the other two quarter-finals which also began at the same time but finished much earlier. Ahsan Javaid faced no problems whatsoever in hammering third seed Zulfiqar Qadir 5-1 with the frame scores of 72-39, 52-10, 70-46, 37-81, 61-50, 79-33.

Mubashir Raza meted out similar treatment to Muhammad Naseem Akhtar, a former world junior champion, blasting him 5-1 with the frame scores of 63-46, 93-7, 41-62, 66-21, 74-4, 74-51.