Mahin, Noor make way to BB Shaheed Tennis semis.

ISLAMABAD -- Young Mahin Aftab carved out sensational 2-1 victory against former Pakistan No 3 Mehaq Khokhar in the quarterfinals of the 5th Shaheed Benzair Bhutto National Ranking Tennis Championship 2019 here at Islamabad Tennis Complex on Friday.

Tremendous tennis was played by both the girls, who had just returned after representing Pakistan in the 13th SAG in Nepal and won bronze medal for the country. Mehaq, who had played lot of tennis not only in Pakistan and USA and also represented the country in a number of team events, was finding it very difficult to adjust to the windy conditions as her serves were not hitting perfectly while her backhand shots were also highly wayward. She was looking very frustrated and was not able to dictate terms in the first set.

But despite all the hazards, Mehaq showed her class and kept Mahin at the bay in the entire first set as both the girls managed to hold onto their respective serves and it was 6-all. But in the tiebreak, Mahin hit winners to take the first set 7-6(0). The second set was completely different story altogether as wind stopped blowing and conditions favoured Mehaq's style, who took full advantage and raced onto take 5-1 lead. Mahin produced made a little comeback and made 3-5, but Mehaq then broke her opponent serve and won the second set 6-3 to square the things at 1-all.

The third and decisive set was a one-sided affair, as Mahin was hitting aces and winners and fully prevailed over Mehaq as she first took 5-0 lead and then Mehaq fought back to make it 1-5, but Mahin then held her serves and won the set 6-1 to set semifinal date with Pakistan No 1 Sara Mansoor.

In the other quarterfinals, Sara Mansoor beat former Pakistan No 1 Mahvish Chisti 6-1, 6-3, ZTBL's Noor Malik, daughter of living legend Rashid Malik, beat Esha Jawad 6-1, 6-3 and former national champion Sarah Mehboob Khan thrashed...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT