3 Pakistanis in quarter finals of Pakistan Open

ISLAMABAD—Aamir Atlas Khan pulled off an upset victory over Malaysian Azlan Iskandar to enter the last-8 stage alongwith two other Pakistanis in the US $ 85,000 Pakistan Open World Squash Championship on Tuesday.
Seven opening round matches, including the two involving Aamir Atlas and Shahid Zaman of Pakistan, were completed on the second day of the main draw at Mushaf Squash Complex.
On the first day on Monday, Mansoor Zaman of the host country and eight overseas players made it to the last-8 (Quarter-Final) round.
Teenage Aamir Atlas Khan perhaps produced best performance of his career to knock out world no. 14 Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6 (37 minutes).
“I concentrated on drop shots against the Malaysian and this produced desired results”, said Aamir who has jumped in world rankings from no.53 to no. 44 this year.
The 16-years-old will now play the world no.4 James Willstrop in the last-8 match at 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday. “Inshaallah, I am ready to give a good account of myself against Willstrop”, Aamir said of the Englishman who had won the Pakistan Open title at this very venue in 2004.
Alongwith Aamir, world no. 30 Shahid Zaman was the other Pakistani Today to book a place in the Quarter-Finals by virtue of his tantalizing five-game victory over compatriot Yasir Butt.
A rather bulky Shahid won 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9 in 37 minutes against lanky Yasir Butt. Two other Pakistanis, Safeerullah Khan and Farhan Mehboob, lost their opening round matches. Willstrop beat Safeer 11-9, 11-10(2-0), 11-6, (29 minutes) while World no. 12 Stewart Boswell of Australia dumped Farhan in straight games 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 (34 minutes).
In three other matches of the day, the winners were defending champion and world no. 3 Thierry Lincou of France, world no. 28 Joey Barrington of England and world no. 18 Muhammad Abbas of Egypt.
Frenchaman Thierry Lincou overcame Egyptian Omer Mosaad in just 33 minutes (11-8, 11-4, 11-5), Joey Barrington beat Saurav Ghosal of India in five games by 10-11(2-0), 11-5, 11-10(2-0), 9-11, 11-5 as the match lasted a good 74 minutes the day’s longest encounter.
The day’s last match consumed the least time (23 minutes) as Muhammad Abbas showed the door to Indian Ritwik Bhattachariya by 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.
The world no. 1 Amr Shabana of Egypt, also the tournament’s top seed, was among the nine players who won their first round matches on Monday.
The quarter-finals will start at 12.00 p.m. on Wednesday under the following order:—Karim Darwesh (Egypt) vs Muhammad Abbas, Ramay Ashour (Egypt) vs Wael El Hindi (Egypt), James Willstrop vs Aamir Atlas Khan, Anthony Ricketts (Australia) vs Renan Lavigne (France), Shahid Zaman vs Stewart Bossel, Thierry Lincou vs Joey Barrington, Gregory Gaultier (France) vs Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan), Amr Shabana vs David Bianchetti (Italy).—Agencies