KARACHI: The KC Jinko Solar Juniors and Seniors Tennis Championship showcased high-voltage encounters here at the Karachi Club on Monday, featuring remarkable performances from the young guns in the competition. In an intense battle in the girls Under-14 singles second round, Khadija Khalil emerged victorious over Rania Abbas in a nail-biting match featuring a tie-break finish. Rania looked on her way to victory when she comfortably clinched the first set 4-2. But, the second set proved to be a seesaw affair as Khadija raced to a 3-2 lead before Rania roared back to came within a point of victory leading 4-3. Khadija, though, visually exhausted broke Rania’s serve to force a tie-break. Despite the odds, Khadija played with grit and won the electrifying set 7-4. The decisive final set, played under the first-to-10 points format, was dominated by Khadija, who triumphantly sealed the match with a 10-5 victory. “I struggled at first but noticed my opponent’s weakness in handling high-angle shots,” Khadija told Dawn, while reflecting on her remarkable performance. “Once I exploited that in the second set, I started winning points.” Rania, a Turkish-born Pakistani player, was highly emotional post-match. Speaking to Dawn, she expressed her disappointment, saying: “I made too many errors in my serve during the second set. My opponent was tired, and I had the game in my hands.” In girls U-18 singles first-round match, reigning under-14 champion Romaisa Malik routed Ayla Malik 6-1, 6-0. “It is a windy atmosphere here, and the ball was moving too much,” Romaisa told Dawn after the match. ”I struggled to serve initially, but as the match went on, I found my rhythm and secured the victory”, she said. Boys Under-18 (first-round): M. Yahya bt Aboubakar Khalil 6-0, 6-0, Nabeel Qayyum bt Ahsan Ahmed 6-1, 6-3, Taimoor Ansari bt Mohammad Ali Khatak 6-2, 6-0, Junaid Meher bt Karoon Kumar 6-0, 6-1, Mohammad Salar bt Zaid Panjwani (W/O), Aboubaker bt Shamoon Hidayat 6-0, 6-1, Asad Zaman bt Faiz Ilyas 6-3, 3-0 (retired). Boys U-14 (first round): Ibrahim Amir bt Fasih Usman 4-0, 4-1, Muhammad Muaz bt Arham Shahzad 5-4, 4-1. Under-12 (second-round): Tariq Rafi bt Qazi Ahyan 1-4, 4-2, 4-1.