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India’s Prakash Amritraj romped into the singles semifinals of the US$50,000 ATP Karshi Challenger hard court tennis tournament being played at Qarshi, Uzbekistan since 2007.
The 370th ranked Prakash – son of legendary Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj – prevailed over Russia’s Denis Matsukevitch in straight games 7-6(6), 6-3 in a quarterfinal match.
The Indian wasn’t given any leeway in the opening set by the 607th ranked Russian who served solidly to nullify the former’s hopes of having an early break of serve. Prakash was not far behind in getting a high percentage of first serves in.
Matsukevitch had a sniffing opportunity to break Prakash’s serve in the twelfth game when he had the Indian down 0-30. But the Indian showed great resolve to claw his way back to push the set into a tie-breaker.
The Indian at one stage led 4-2 in the tie-breaker before the 27-year-old Russian levelled scores at 6-6 before the former had the last laugh.
Prakash maintained the momentum in the second set, breaking Matsukevitch’s serve in the second game to run up a cosy 3-0 lead. The Russian was a pale shadow of himself in the second set as he committed several unforced errors.
The Indian broke his serve one more time to bag the second set 6-3 to march into the semifinals.
This was Prakash’s second win over Matsukevitch in as many meetings. He last beat the Russian in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the Uzbekistan ITF Futures six years back.
The Indian now plays Moldova’s 251st ranked Radu Albot in the semifinals.
Earlier, Prakash created a huge upset when he stunned second seed Amir Weintraub of Israel in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to romp into the quarterfinals. The win ensured Prakash 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. 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.
Prior to his semifinal entry, his earlier best performances have been second round appearances in the ATP Chennai Open and Le Gosier tournaments.
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.
