Mandya (Karnataka): Former Davis Cupper and Olympian Vishnu Vardhan justified his rise in the rankings on the tour when he shut out tournament No 4 seed Sasi Kumar Mukund in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to storm into the semi-finals of the Mysore Minerals Ltd Men’s ITF $ 10,000 Mandya Open singles event here on Thursday.
The tournament No 8 will take on top seed Antoine Escoffier of France who scripted a clinical 7-5, 6-4 victory over Chinese Taipe’s Jui-Chen Jung in the last four from the top half of the draw.
An Indian is assured of being in the final, from the bottom half of the draw. In a battle between unseeded players Lucknow’s Ronit Singh Bist out played Delhi’s Sidarth Rawat in a grueling three-setter before prevailing 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), the match lasting a good two hours and 33 minutes.
Bist will take on No 3 seed Karunuday Singh who staved off the challenge of tournament seventh seed Vinayak Sharma Kaza 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The doubles final, to be played on Friday, will see second seeds Avnit Bendre and Akash Wagh battling it out with the Indo-Tpe pair of Jui-Chen Hung and Sasi
Kumar Mukund, both the pairs advancing to the title tilt in the decider
Bendre and Wagh rallied from a set deficit to defeat the fighting pair of Haadin Bava and Tejas Chaukulkar 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 while Hung and Mukund lost the second set tie-breaker after winning the first set and then called the shots in the decider winning, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 10-6.
Results: (Prefix denotes seeding):
Singles (Quarter-finals): (8) Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) bt (4) Sasi Kumar Mukund (Ind) 6-4, 6-4; (1) Antoine Escoffier (Fra) bt (6) Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe) 7-5, 6-4; Ronit
Kumar Bist (Ind) bt Sidarth Rawat (Ind) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4); (3) Karunuday Singh (Ind) bt (7) Vinayak Sharma Kaza (Ind) 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Doubles (Semi-finals): (2) Anvit Bendre (Ind)/Akash Wagh (Ind) bt Haadin Bava (Ind)/Tejas Chaukulkar (Ind) 3-6, 6-3, 10-7; Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe)/Sasi Kumar Mukund (Ind) bt (2) Chandril Sood/Lakshit Sood (Ind) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 10-6.
