Gajjar shocks top seed in ITF tournament

India's Rohan Gajjar knocked out top seed Kento Takeuchi of Japan 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to ensure an all Indian semi-final at the $15,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament underway at the DLTA courts here Thursday.

Takeuchi was the only overseas player in the last eight stage. Sixth-seeded Gajjar now faces Ashutosh Singh who upset national champion and seventh-seeded Ranjith Virali-Murugesan 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

Tournament favourite Yuki Bhambri,too, eased into the last four with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Divij Sharan. The junior Australian Open champion will now take on second seed Vishnu Vardhan, who got the better of eighth-seeded Rupesh Roy 6-2, 7-6(7).

But the day belong to Gajjar, who fought back from a set down to take the match against the 21-year-old Japanese in two hours and 20 minutes. The two baseliners tested each other with solid groundstrokes, though it was Gajjar who clearly had the edge. The Indian served strong and caught Takeuchi unaware with his ripping forehands.

Takeuchi served out the first set with a break in the fifth game but Gajjar bounced back in the second set. Neither player dropped serve to take the set to the tie-breaker, where Gajjar prevailed to make it a set all.

A confident Gajjar began the third set by breaking Takeuchi in the first game and kept up the pressure till the last. He won the set and the match, breaking Japanese in the ninth game.

Yuki, seeded fourth, was sublime in his defeat of Sharan, with whom he had been hitting quite a bit. Serving big and mixing his groundstrokes with well-timed volleys, the 16-year-old from Delhi began with a break in the very first game and followed up with another break in the third to win the first set.

Sharan cut down on his errors in the second set but Yuki managed to steal a decisive break in the fifth game to close the match in nearly an hour and a half.

"It wasn't easy as the scores suggest but I am happy with my performance. I knew his game (Sharan) and was aware that he is good at the nets. So, I practiced a lot of passing shots yesterday," Yuki said.

Last updated on Jul 2^nd, 2009 at 18:24 pm IST--IANS