At PNW Open, familiarity breeds competition as doubles pair face one another
When fourth-seeded Kyle McMorrow faced off against reigning finalist Samir Iftikhar in the Pacific Northwest Open men’s singles quarterfinals Friday at the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club, it was destined to be a good match between two good competitors.
It was.
The unseeded Iftikhar came back from a set down to defeat McMorrow 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach Saturday’s semifinals. But these two have become quite familiar with each other during the past couple of months.
The match marked their fifth time these two have played against each other this summer in the PNW tennis circuit — and that’s not counting their undefeated performances as a doubles tandem.
“I think after today he now leads the series 3-2.” Iftikhar said smiling.
Two weeks ago the two faced off in the Salem Summer Classic finals, with McMorrow getting the best of Iftikhar in two sets (6-0, 7-5). After that, they teamed together to take the doubles finals.
This was the first time in 2017 that Iftikhar and McMorrow met before the finals of a singles tournament.
It would be natural to pin these two as rivals, because of the battles these two have been through on the court, but Iftikhar says that their rivalry has developed into a good friendship.
“It’s hard to really enjoy that win because he’s become a really good friend of mine,” Iftikhar said. “I have a lot of respect for him and he has respect for me too. I know he’s a very good player — probably at his top level he’s better than me — but I think I got that little bit of edge with the fitness, so luckily I was able to do that today.”
Iftikar road to the semifinals has been anything but easy. McMorrow, a former University of Washington star, marks the second seeded player that Iftikar has knocked off this week. In the round of 16, Iftikhar defeated No. 8 Jake Douglas, a Huskies senior, in three sets (6-1, 3-6, 6-1).
In other tournaments in the USTA’s Pacific Northwest Section, Iftikhar has been seeded no lower than third. But this year’s PNW Open is so deep, he fell short of being seeded.
That lack of seeding has helped motivate Iftikhar a little more, he admitted.
“Being a finalist here last year, along with my record in the circuit this year, I was expected to be seeded,” Iftikhar said. “I wasn’t … that’s fair enough. It’s the tournament’s decision there, but it definitely gave me a bit of a chip on my shoulder and I felt like I had something to prove out here.”
In men’s doubles, Iftikhar and McMorrow would continue their dominance from the third seed, winning in three sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-2) against sixth-seeded Nathan Pasha and Ryan G. Sablan to reach the semifinals.
The pair are 14-0 in doubles together this summer.
This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 7:36 PM with the headline "At PNW Open, familiarity breeds competition as doubles pair face one another."