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India’s Prakash Amritraj dished out a listless display against seventh seed Radu Albot of Moldova before retiring hurt in the second set in the singles semifinals of the US$50,000 ATP Karshi Challenger hard court tennis tournament being played at Qarshi, Uzbekistan.
The Indian lost the first set tamely 1-6 and was broken once in the second set to trail 0-3 when he retired hurt handing a much deserved win to Albot.
The 370th ranked Prakash – son of legendary Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj – failed to match the performance that saw him make it to the last four.
Prakash struggled with his serves and was constantly under pressure to hold his own against the 251st ranked Moldovan.
Albot started proceedings on a bright note, holding his serve and then straightway broke Prakash’s serve in the second game before going on to take a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The Indian was not in his elements on Friday as his serve let him down, which prevented him from staying competitive against the Moldovan. Albot breached Prakash’s serve at love in the sixth game to sew up a commanding 5-1 lead before serving for the set.
The script was pretty much similar in the second set. Prakash was broken in the second game and Albot was all set to post a facile win when the former retired hurt trailing 0-3.
This was the first meeting between Albot and Prakash.
Earlier, in the quarterfinals, the Indian defeated Russia’s Denis Matsukevitch in straight games 7-6(6), 6-4.
The win was his second over Matsukevitch in as many meetings. He had last beaten the Russian in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the Uzbekistan ITF Futures six years back.
Prakash created a huge upset when he stunned second seed Amir Weintraub of Israel in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the second round.
The win ensured the Indian maintained his stranglehold over Weintraub in head-to-head meetings. It was Prakash’s third victory over the Israeli.
The Indian has earlier beaten Weintraub in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the 2008 China F2 tournament and later in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round of the 2010 Rimouski Challenger.
This is the seventh edition of the US$50,000 ATP Karshi Challenger hard court tennis tournament, which first started in 2007.
This is Prakash’s best singles performance in 2013. Prior to his semi-final entry, his earlier best performances have been second round appearances in the ATP Chennai Open and Le Gosier tournaments.
Earlier, he crashed out in the first round of the ATP Johannesburg Challenger, losing to Croatia’s 361st ranked Mate Pavic in three sets 7-6, 4-6, 4-6.
The Indian earlier this year has appeared in the Rimouski Challenger, Guadalajara Challenger, Mexico City Challenher and San Jose tournament – he failed to make it to the main draw of these tournaments bowing out in the qualifying rounds.
