Three of the top four seeds moved into the semifinals, but the man who could threaten an Indian win in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures at the Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy, was Chih-Jen Ho of Chinese Taipei. He entered the last four at the expense of unseeded Sasi Kumar Mukund.
Top seed Balaji will take on Vijay Sundar Prashanth, while fourth seed V. M. Ranjeeth will be challenged by Chih-Jen. The 20-year-old Chih-Jen was impressive in his 6-3, 6-2 win over Mukund after having eliminated No. 2 Vishnu Vardhan in the second round.
The higher-ranked Balaji got into the groove with some fine groundstrokes against eighth seed Wagh to win 6-3, 6-4. Prashanth’s 6-3, 6-2 victory over seventh seed Vinayak Sharma Kaza was fluent.
Chih-Jen has been displaying guts in ample measure and would be a real challenge for Ranjeeth in the semifinals.
In doubles, the top-seeded pair of Balaji and Ranjeeth will take on second-seeded Prashanth and Vishnu Vardhan in the final.
The results:Men: Quarterfinals: N. Sriram Balaji bt Akash Wagh 6-3, 6-4; N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Vinayak Sharma Kaza 6-3, 6-2; V.M. Ranjeeth bt Matias Franco Descotte (Arg) 6-4, 6-4; Chih-Jen Ho (Tpe) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles: Semifinals: Sriram Balaji & V.M. Ranjeeth bt Sasi Mukund & Akash Wagh 6-4, 6-2; Vishnu Vardhan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Matias Franco Descotte (Arg) & Chih-Jen Ho (Tpe) 7-5, 7-6(2).