Sharjah Open reaching final stages

Dubai: The top two seeds will clash in the girls under-12 final of the 23rd Marbella Bank of Sharjah Open Tennis Championships tomorrow.

Number one seed Norhan Marouf got the better of Nivedha Raj 6-1, 6-0 to set up a meeting against second-seed Anaya Singh, who secured a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 win over Shreya Sreeram.

The girls under-14 competition also moved to the semi-final stage with Namrata Dutta getting a walkover from top seed Rekeetha Pereira, while fifth seed Linda Burt knocked out fourth seed Mallika Raghunathan 6-1, 6-4.

In the lower half, third seed Teodora Sabljarovic received a walkover from Miriam McLeod, while Simran Kaur disposed off Nancy Fawzy.

Last four

In the boys under-11, the top four lived up to their seedings by making it to the last four. Number one Atif Shaikh will meet third seed Younus Ibragimov and second seed Shayan Azari will take on fourth seed Bharath Amrithraj.

In the boys under-12, top seed Dhruv Bahl set up a semi-final meeting with third seed Michel Katrib. In the second semi-final, fourth seed Kamran Azari will meet seventh seed Victor Jovic.

The boy's under-14 semi-finals should be an engrossing affair with top seed Puneet Varier taking on fourth seed Karim Sobh, and unseeded Fares Al Janahi setting up a date with second seed Brent Dixon today.

The annual tournament, held under the patronage of Shaikh Sultan Bin Ahmad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, will see most of the finals held tomorrow.