Day Four of the Tata Open Maharashtra saw the top-seeds progressing to the semi-finals stage. Doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan secured their passage through to the Semi-Finals beating the Indo-Mexican duo of Leander Paes and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in three sets 6-7(4), 6-4, 17-15 held here at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium on Thursday.
Defending champion Gilles Simon also came back from a set down to seal the all-French affair beating Benoit Paire 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the last match of the day. He will now meet top-seed and World No. 6 Kevin Anderson in the second semi-final after the South African eased past seventh-seed Jaume Munar in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Bopanna and Sharan came in to the Quarter-Finals on the back of an easy 6-1,6-2 win against Radu Albot-Malek Jaziri. However, the unseeded pairing of Paes and Reyes-Varela gave the top seeds a tough outing taking the match into the super tie-break in what was the most exciting match of Day 4. While Paes-Reyes-Varela secured the first set 7-6(4), Bopanna and Sharan’s pair fed on the former's serves to take the match to tie-breaker winning the second at 6-4. The top-seeds lived upto their billing saving six match points and seal the decider 17-15 in a thrilling tie played for one hour and 45 minutes.
"It was a very competitive match but I think our experience of having played together for a reasonable period of time helped us in getting past the finishing line,” said Bopanna after the victory.
In the other half of the quarter-finals draw, Belgium’s Steve Darcis sprung a surprise with a win over fourth-seed Malek Jaziri in straight sets 7-5, 6-2. Serving 25 aces, 39-year-old Ivo Karlovic went past World No. 95 Ernests Gulbis in straight sets 7-6(5), 7-6(5). Darcis and Karlovic will now play each other in the first Semi-Final of Day 5 on Friday.
Earlier in the day, it was the Italian-Croatian pairing of Simone Bolelli and Ivan Dodig beat the German pairing of Kevin Kraweitz and Andreas Mies in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to set up a Semi-Final meeting with the top-seeds Bopanna and Sharan, the first fixture on Friday.
RESULTS
Men's Singles - Quarterfinals
[1] K. Anderson (RSA) d [7] J. Munar (ESP) 63 63
[3] G. Simon (FRA) d [5] B. Paire (FRA) 36 76(4) 64
[PR] S. Darcis (BEL) d [4] M. Jaziri (TUN) 75 62
I. Karlovic (CRO) d E. Gulbis (LAT) 76(5) 76(5)
Men's Doubles - Semifinals
L. Bambridge (GBR) / J. O'Mara (GBR) d [4] G. Granollers (ESP) / M. Granollers (ESP) 64 36 10-6
Quarterfinals
[1] R. Bopanna (IND) / D. Sharan (IND) d L. Paes (IND) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 67(4) 64 17-15
S. Bolelli (ITA) / I. Dodig (CRO) d K. Krawietz (GER) / A. Mies (GER) 62 64
