Maria Toor Pakay wins her second WSA World Tour title of the season as she beat top seed Latasha Khan in the Southwest Open.
The world No.52, who has risen over 110 places in the WSA rankings so far in 2012, beat local interest Kirsten Lange in four games in the first round, followed by qualifier Celia Allamargot in the quarter-finals.
The 21-year-old from Bannu, Pakistan then faced second seed Lauren Selby in close contest, featuring first and second game tiebreaks. In a match that took just under an hour, Pakay came out on top in the three game contest to make her fourth ever WSA final.
There she faced top seed Latasha Khan, who was just one match away from back-to-back titles following her Orange County Open win earlier in the month. The experienced world No.28 was yet to drop a game in the competition, having moved past qualifier Antonella Falcione, Nicolette Fernandes and third seed Amanda Landers-Murphy in straight games.
The young Pakistani international started well in the final, moving to an early 11-6 lead, but Khan got more of a foothold in the second game, forcing a tie-break but not enough to prevent the deficit increasing as she went down 13-11. The increased pressure from the American saw her take the third game 11-4 to stake her claim on the match, but the fourth saw the younger player re-establish her dominance to end the contest with an 11-9 win.
Both players will feature in the qualifying round of the Carol Weymuller Open in New York later this week, and could even face each other again should each make it through to the qualifying finals.
Final:
[4] Maria Toor Pakay (PAK) bt [1] Latasha Khan (USA) 11-6, 13-11, 4-11, 11-9 (59m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Latasha Khan (USA) bt [3] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 (40m)
[4] Maria Toor Pakay (PAK) bt [2] Lauren Selby (ENG) 14-12, 17-15, 11-4 (57m)
Quarter-finals:
[1] Latasha Khan (USA) bt Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 (41m)
[3] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [6] Orla Noom (NED) 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (40m)
[4] Maria Toor Pakay (PAK) bt [Q] Celia Allamargot (FRA) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 (28m)
[2] Lauren Selby (ENG) bt [8] Thaisa Serafini (BRA) 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 (30m)
1st round:
[1] Latasha Khan (USA) bt [Q] Antonella Falcione (ARG) 11-8, 11-8, 11-2 (24m)
Nicolette Fernandes (GUY) bt [5] Victoria Lust (ENG) 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8 (75m)
[3] Amanda Landers-Murphy (NZL) bt [Q] Mennat Nasser (EGY) 13-11, 6-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-6 (62m)
[6] Orla Noom (NED) bt [Q] Alex Clark (SCO) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 (26m)
[Q] Celia Allamargot (FRA) bt [7] Birgit Coufal (AUT) 6-11, 11-5, 13-11, 12-10 (39m)
[4] Maria Toor Pakay (PAK) bt Kristen Lange (USA) 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9 (50m)
[8] Thaisa Serafini (BRA) bt Carrie Ramsey (ENG) 13-11, 11-2, 11-8 (40m)
[2] Lauren Selby (ENG) bt Ivonne Diaz (MEX) 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 (25m)
