KARACHI: Faiza Zafar removed fourth seed Saima Shoukat in little over half an hour, 34 minutes to be precise, to reach last four of a major event in the ninth DG Rangers Sindh National Open Squash Championship at the Rangers Jahangir Khan squash complex on Tuesday.

Local player Faiza struggled to overcome her opponent 11-3, 10-12, 12-10, 11-7 to set a date with last year’s losing finalist and second seed Samar Anjum.

The latter, meanwhile, took a sweet revenge when she handed out a 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 victory to defending champion and the fifth seed Raffat Khan in another quarter-final.

Top seed Sadia Gul and third seed Moqaddas Ashraf were the other two players who completed the quartet. The former got the better of Rushana Mehboob 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 while the latter ended the winning run of qualifier Komal notching up 11-13, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2 victory.

Meanwhile, top four seeds, as expected, cruised into the men’s last four by winning their quarter-finals comfortably..

Top seed and world No 39 Nasir Iqbal sent Asim Khan packing 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4. Contrary to Nasir’s win that lasted 43 minutes, second seed and world No 64 Farhan Zaman took just 19 minutes to whip eighth seed Waqar Mehboob 11-5, 11-5, 11-5.

Third seed Tayyab Aslam and fourth seed Farhan Mehboob also sneaked into the last four with contrasting victories. The former disposed off Raees Khan 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3 while the latter sent Zahir Shah packing 11-5, 11-3, 11-4.

Results:

Men’s quarter-finals:

Nasir Iqbal (Wapda) bt M. Asim Khan (SNGPL) 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-4; Tayyab Aslam (ZTBL) bt Raees Khan (Army) 5-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3; Farhan Mehboob (Wapda) bt Zahir Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; Farhan Zaman (PAF) bt Waqar Mehboob (ZTBL) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5.

Women’s quarter-finals:

Sadia Gul (SNGPL) bt Rushana Mehboob (ZTBL) 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4; Moqaddas Ashraf (Wapda) bt Komal (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 11-13, 11-3, 11-5, 11-2; Faiza Zafar (NUST) bt Saima Shoukat (Wapda) 11-3, 10-12, 12-10, 11-7; Sammar Anjum (SNGPL) bt Raffat Khan (Wapda) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7.

Wednesday’s fixtures:

Men’s semi-finals:

Nasir Iqbal (Wapda) v Tayyab Aslam (ZTBL) at 1.45pm; Farhan Mehboob (Wapda) v Farhan Zaman (PAF) at 3.30pm

Women’s semi-finals:

Sadia Gul (SNGPL) v Moqaddas Ashraf (Wapda) 1pm; Faiza Zafar (NUST) v Sammar Anjum (SNGPL) at 2.45pm

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2015