Chennai, Jan 9 : Continuing his giant killing act, India's Somdev Devvarman upped his game by several notches to beat fourth seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(4) 6-4 and storm into the semifinals of the Chennai Open ATP Tour tennis tournament here tonight.
Playing before a packed stadium and the home crowd rooting for him, Somdev, who yesterday scalped former world no.1 and two-time champion here Carlos Moya, played his heart out to win the quarterfinal match in 86 minutes.
In the process, he became the only second Indian after Leander Paes to figure in the semifinals of the 14-year old prestigious event.
In 1998, Paes had lost to ultimate winner and top seed Patrick Rafter of Australia at the same venue.
In the semifinals, Devvarman will meet Germany's fifth seeded Rainer Schuettler, who stayed on course with a 6-2 7-5 win in 98 minutes over his compatriot Bjorn Phau earlier in the day.
In the other semifinal tomorrow, third seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia plays eighth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain.
Cilic sent Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia packing 6-4 0-6 6-4 in 122 minutes on the centre court, while eight seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain got the better of a fighting wild card entrant Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 7-5 2-6 6-4 in a two hour marathon. - Agencies
Jan 10, 2009