Johns Creek Open RD1: Impressive Teen Sharif sets up Salazar bout

The final tournament of the week, the Challenger 10 level Life Time Optimus BT Johns Creek Open, got underway yesterday at the Life Time Johns Creek in Georgia, United States.

On a day defined largely by quick-fire wins, victories went to the higher ranked players in each match.

The day started with an impressive win for talented 17-year-old Hamza Sharif over Muhammad Ibrahim Noorani in an all-Pakistan affair. Sharif took a fairly even first game 11-6, before putting his foot down to seal a 21-minute victory with a pair of 11-1 victories.

Sharif's reward for this victory is a tough second round bout with top seed and World No.63 Arturo Salazar of Mexico, who received a bye to the second round.

Despite the impressive nature of Sharif's victory, it was not the quickest of the day. That honour went to Canada's Salah Eltorgman, who dispatched the USA's Milan Tahliani in just 19 minutes.

In the only match not to finish in a straight-games win, Malaysia's Asyraf Azan overcame the UAE's Muhammad Sami Ullah 3-1 in a 71-minute battle.

*Johns Creek Open RD1: Results*
[9/16] Hamza Sharif (PAK) bt Muhammad Ibrahim Noorani (PAK) 3-0: 11-6, 11-1, 11-1 (21m)
[9/16] Salah Eltorgman (CAN) bt Milan Tahliani (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-8 (19m)
[9/16] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) bt Shoumik Mohapatra (USA) 3-0: 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 (31m)
[9/16] Alex Smith (IRL) bt Quinlan Jeudy (USA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (40m)
[9/16] Asyraf Azan (MAS) bt Muhammad Sami Ullah (UAE) 3-1: 11-9. 11-7, 8-11, 11-9 (71m)
[9/16] Lewis Doughty (ENG) bt Jaiveer Bagga (USA) 3-0: 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 (23m)
[9/16] Muhammad Farhan Hashmi (PAK) bt Karamatullah Khan (PAK) 3-0: 11-2, 11-4, 11-6 (24m)
[9/16] Jamie Ruggiero (USA) bt Wajiullah Nasim (USA) 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-5 (32m)

*Johns Creek Open RD12: Draw*
[1] Arturo Salazar (MEX) v Hamza Sharif (PAK)
Salah Eltorgman (CAN) v [5] Christopher Binnie (JAM)
[7] Mark Broekman (ENG) v Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN)
Alex Smith (IRL) v [4] Michael McCue (CAN)
[3] Alfredo Avila (MEX) v Asyraf Azan (MAS)
Lewis Doughty (ENG) v [6] Edgar Ramirez Bautista (COL)
[8] Babatunde Ajagbe (NGR) v Muhammad Farhan Hashmi (PAK)
Jamie Ruggiero (USA) v [2] Sam Todd (ENG)