24 October,2015 11:49 AM IST | | PTI
Saketh Myneni was the last Indian standing in the Air Asia Open by sealing a semifinal berth as Sanam Singh lost his singles quarterfinal
Bangalore: Saketh Myneni was the last Indian standing in the Air Asia Open by sealing a semifinal berth as Sanam Singh lost his singles quarterfinal, in Bangalore on Friday.
Third seed Myeni got the better of fifth seed Belgian Yannick Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (6) to move into the last-four USD 50,000 Challenger event at the KSLTA Courts on Friday.
Sanam though exited with a 3-6 2-6 defeat against second seed Briton James Ward. It was a smooth run in the first for Myneni but the Belgian made it good fight in the second. There was no break of serve till the 10th. Myneni broke Mertens in the 11th but could not serve out the match. Instead he was broken by the Belgian and tie-breaker came into play.
Unforced errors from Myneni and some lovely passing shots meant that Mertens raced to a 4-1 lead. But his joy was short lived as the Indian re-invented himself to level at 5-all and claimed two points from 6-all to seal the match.
Myneni's semifinal opponent will be top seed Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, who had little problem in ousting Arthyr De Greef of Belgium 6-3 6-4.
The second semi-final will pit James Ward against Daniel Nguyen, who accounted for Italian Alessandro Bega 7-5 6-4.
In the doubles semi-finals, Wild Card entrants John Paul Fruttero (USA) and Vijay Sunder Prashanth ousted the third seeded pair of Ti Chen (Tpe) and Dane Propoggia (Aus) to move into the final. They will take on the second seeded Indian pair of Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh in the final to be played on Saturday evening.
