Shoaib powers into ITF Junior Tennis semis

ISLAMABAD: Top seed local lad Shoaib Khan eased past Russia’s Ruslan Serazhetdinov in straight sets to make it to the semi-finals of the ITF J5 Junior Tennis Championship boys’ singles event here at the PTF Complex on Wednesday.

Shoaib won against the third seed 6-1, 6-4 and was seen dominating throughout with some powerful tennis mostly confined to baseline.

He gave no chance to his opponent in the first set where Ruslan could manage to hold just one serve.

Shoaib will now meet unseeded Siddhartha Lama of USA who also displayed quality tennis to beat Zalan Khan (Pakistan) 6-0, 6-4.

Britain’s Roy Keegan registered a straight-set win against Alexandar Karman (USA) in a well-contested two-set match 6-3, 6-3.

Score-line does not depict the true standard of the match where some tennis was seen on display.

Keegan will now face Rohan Belday (USA) who beat Aki Zuben Rawat (Nepal) in a one-sided affair 6-2, 6-2.

In the doubles event, Abdullah (Pakistan) pairing with Aoi Ooka (Japan) caused a major upset in the quarter-finals eliminating third seed Zalan Khan (Pakistan) and Ruslan Serazhetdinov (Russia) in a thrilling three-set match 6-4, 3-6(11-9) to move into the semi-final.

Abhilasha Bista of Nepal & Arina Valitova (Russia) and Zoha Asim (Pakistan) & Margarita Okhendovskaya (Ukraine) qualified for the girls’ doubles final.

Results: Boys’ singles quarter-finals: Muhammad Shoaib (Pak) bt Ruslan Serazhetdinov (Rus) 6-1, 6-4; Siddhartha Lama (USA) bt Zalan Khan (Pak) 6-0, 6-4; Roy Keegan (GBR) bt Alexander Karman (USA) 6-3, 6-3; Rohan Belday (USA) bt Aki Zuben Rawat (NEP) 6-2, 6-2.

Boys’ doubles quarter-finals: Ahmed Kamil (Pak) & Muhammad Shoaib (Pak) bt Hamid Israr Gul (Pak) & Roy Keegan (GBR) 4-6, 6-2(10-8); Aarav Samrat Hada (Nep) & Zuben Rawat (Nep) bt Mahatir Muhammad Khan (Pak) & Hasheesh Kumar (Pak) 6-4, 6-3; Abdullah (Pak) & Aoi Ooka (Jpn) bt Zalan Khan (Pak) & Ruslan Serazhetdinov (Rus) 6-4, 3-6(11-9); Rohan Belday (USA) & Alexander Karman (USA) bt Aryan Giri (Nep) & Siddhartha Lama (USA) 6-3, 6-3.

Girls’ doubles semi-finals: Abhilasha Bista (Nep) & Arina Valitova (Rus) bt Sheeza Sajid (Pak) & Ekaterina SUVOROVA (Rus) 6-0, 6-2; Zoha Asim (Pak) & Margarita Okhendovskaya (Ukraine) bt Maleeha Khalid (Pak) & Zahara Suleman (Pak) bt 6-0, 6-0.