Ahmed fends off challenge to move to Pakistan Jnr Tennis C’ship quarterfinals
ISLAMABAD: Fourth seed Ahmed Kamil of Pakistan fended off challenge from Russia’s Nikta Bortnichek to move in the quarterfinals of Tajammul & Dilawar Abbas Memorial ITF Pakistan Junior Tennis Championship 2020 at Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) Complex, Islamabad on Wednesday.
Ahmed lost first set 5-7 after a seesaw battle. However, he exhibited supremacy in the next two sets, winning these by a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline. Wild card entrant Kerem Ozlale and Tuna Nergizoglue of Turkey and Nepal’s Aryan Giri also made to the last eight stage by registering straight emphatic straight-set victories.
In Girls’ Singles, Hong Kong’s Hannah Kaile Shen from Hong Kong caused a major upset of the tournament when she overwhelmed second seed Dorasa Cheraghi of Iran in quarterfinal in straight sets. She emerged victorious by breaking 9th game in the first set and 7th game in the second set. The match lasted for an hour and 45 minutes. Top seed Ke Ren of China, who was leading 1-0 against Amina Saliyayeva of USA had to quit the contest due to fever. Third seed Mina Toglukdemir and fourth seed Billur Gonlusen of Turkey also recorded straight set wins and moved to the semifinals.
In the Boys’ Doubles event, Pakistan pair of Ahmed Kamil and Muhammad Shoaib advanced to semifinals after eliminating Chinese Taipei’s Kuan Chang Huang and Chun Tang in straight sets.
The Chinese Taipei and Pakistan pair of Min-Hung Kao and Araiz Malik (PAK) also moved to the semifinals as they got walkover against the second seed Italian and Japanese pair of Matteo Covato and Souta Oomura. The pair was unable to play due to muscular soreness injury to Matteo Covatoy. - APP