Somdev to play Yuki in semifinal of ATP Challenger

Chennai: Top seed Somdev Devvarman won his match against Jordi Samper Montana of Spain via a walkover to set up a semifinal clash with his Indian compatriot Yuki Bhambri in the USD 50,000 ATP Challenger Tennis tournament here today.

The other semifinal will be between unseeded Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia and his second seeded compatriot Evgeny Donskoy. Montana, who was suffering from stomach cramps and vomiting, offered a walkover to Somdev while seventh seed Yuki Bhambri put up a superb performance to come from behind and get the better of unseeded Louis Pouille of France 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Frenchman started stroking fluently on both flanks to outplay Yuki in the first set. Yuki, however, found his bearings in the second set and served brilliantly to take away the advantage from Pouille to win the next two sets with ease which should give him enormous confidence going into the semifinals. Yuki continued his good run in the doubles when he and his partner Michael Venus of New Zealand combined effectively to beat the pair of Thomas Fabbiano of Italy and Agustin Velotti of Argentina while Shriram and Blaz Rola outsmarted and out-volleyed Steven Diez of Canada and Daniel Munoz of Spain in straight sets. Temperamental Alexander Kudrayatsev of Russia gave Saketh Myneni no chance whatsoever as he annihilated the Indian 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour. He stroked with great ease, hitting winners to all parts of the court. He will take on second seed Evgney Donskoy who has been playing just enough to beat his opponents so far. It was no different today also as Donskoy countered Sanam Singh`s aggression with superb stroke play and ran away 7-5, 6-4 victorious. Doubles semi-final lineup: N Sriram Balaji (Ind)/Blaz Rola (Slo) vs Ti Chen (Tpe)/Marek Semjan (Svk) and Ruben Gonzales (Phi)/Artem Sitak (Nzl) vs Yuki Bhambri (Ind)/Michael Venus (Nzl). Results: Singles: Somdev Devvarman (Seed 1) bt Jordi Samper-Montana (ESP) WO; Yuki Bhambri (Seed 7) bt Lucas Pouille (Fra) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Saketh Myneni 6-0, 6-2; Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) (Seed 2) bt Sanam Singh (Q) 7-5, 6-4. Doubles: N Sriram Balaji (Ind)/Blaz Rola (Slo) bt Steven Diez (Can)/Daniel Munoz-De La Nava (ESP) 6-3, 6-2; Ti Chen (Tpe)/Marek Semjan (Svk) bt Gerard Granollers (ESP)/Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (Esp) [4] 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-6; Ruben Gonzales (Phi)/Artem Sitak (Nzl) (Seed 3) bt Hsien-Yin Peng (Tpe)/Tsung-Hua Yang (Tpe) 6-4, 7-5; Yuki Bhambri (Ind)/Michael Venus (Nzl) [2] bt Thomas Fabbiano (ITA)/Agustin Velotti (ARG) 6-2, 6-3.