Ushna breezes into semi-finals
LAHORE: Veteran Ushna Sohail beat Soha Ali in straight sets on Wednesday to qualify for the ladies’ semi-finals of the Sheheryar Malik Memorial Tennis Championship here at the Sports Board Tennis Complex, Nishtar Park.
The 31-year-old Ushna in a one-sided match overpowered Soha 6-2, 6-1 to make the last-four stage.
In other ladies’ quarter-finals, Noor Malik outclassed Rahat-ul-Ain 6-1, 6-1; Mehak Khokhar advanced after Khunsa Babar retired, trailing 6-1 in the first set while Sheeza Sajid crushed Lalarukh 6-2, 6-0.
In the boys’ U-18 quarter-finals, Hamza Asim secured an easy 6-0, 6-1 victory over Mohammad Yahya while Mohammad Salar fought through a tough three-set battle to defeat Yafat Amir Mazari 6-7, 6-1, 6-4. Abubakr Talha advanced with a solid 6-1, 6-4 win against Asad Zaman.
The boys’ U-14 quarter-finals saw standout performances, including Hassan Usmani’s 4-0, 4-1 win over Syed Mahad Shehzad and Ruhab Faisal’s 4-2, 4-2 triumph against Shayan Afridi. Abdur Rehman and Omer Jawad also progressed with comfortable victories. Rehman defeated Mohammad Junaid 4-0, 4-1 while Omer beat Razik Sultan 4-0, 4-2.
In the boys’ U-12 pre-quarterfinals, Arsh Imran beat Zayd Zaman 5-3, 4-1 and Majid Ali Bachani staged a comeback to beat Mohammad Faizan 0-4, 4-1, 4-0.
Other winners included Shayan Afridi, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Junaid. Shayan Afridi blanked Omer Zaman 4-0, 4-0, Mohammad Ali beat Fahad Mustafa with the same margin and Mohammad Junaid outplayed Aliyan Ali 4-1, 4-2.
In the seniors’ 40-plus doubles quarter-finals, Azhar Ali Khan and Hadi recorded a facile win over Syed Shamas-ud-Din and Ahsan Wali 6-3, 6-0.
Kafi Siddiqui and Waheed Ahmad battled to a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 win over Dr Arif and Zargam Khan in the senior 55-plus semi-final.
Nauman Aleem and Waqar Nisar comfortably defeated the pair of Dr Shehzad and Chaudhry Amir 6-1, 6-1 in the other last-four match.
Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2024