Paes romps into semis

Leander Paes stormed into the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger tennis tournament with a fluent victory over fourth seed Frantisek Cemark of the Czech Republic, in Chandigarh, on Friday.

Paes won 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 35 minutes to set up a semi- final clash with top seed Dennis van Scheppingen of The Netherlands, who defeated Ota Fukarek of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 in another quarter-final match.

The other semi-fianl will be an all-Israel affair, between second seed Andy Ram and qualifier Noam Okum.

Ram defeated giant-killer Martin Spottl of Austria 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 while Okum got past another qualifier in Dmitri Mazur of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-3.

Paes started in style, sending down an ace off his very first serve but was broken in the third game after surviving three break-points.

He, however, broke back in the eighth and tenth games to take the first set at 6-4.

Paes dominated the second set and broke Cemark in the second and sixth games to wrap up the match in quick time.

In the match between Scheppingen and Fukarek, the games went with the serves in the first set before the top seed managed a break in the 12th to take the set 7-5.

The second set saw both players trading breaks in the second and third games and again in the sixth and seventh.

However, Scheppingen capitalised on a double-fault by Fukarek to gain a vital break in the eighth game and win the match after one hour 19 minutes duel.

The first set of the third quarter-final match saw an even contest between Okum and Mazur. The players traded breaks in the second and third games for a 5-all score before Mazur double-faulted in the crucial 12th game to squander the set 5-7.

Okum gained in confidence and increased the attack in the second set which he took comfortably at 6-3 to book a berth in the semi-finals.

Ram was involved in the toughest encounter of the day and was stretched full distance by Spottl, who had accounted for the fifth seed Jamie Delgado on Thursday.

Spottl, despite a bout of giddiness, broke Ram in the first and third games of the first set before serving three double faults to lose the fourth. He made amends with a break in the ninth game to take the set 6-3.

Ram made a remarkable comeback in the second set breaking Spottl in the very first game. Another break in the ninth game gave the set to Ram to take the match into the decider. P> Spottl looked tired in the third set and submitted meekly as Ram took it at 6-1 to wrap up the match.

The men's doubles semi-finals proved to be a non-starter with a walkover in both matches.

The combination of Giorgio Galimberti of Italy and Nir Welgreen of Israel will take on the duo of Frantisek Cermark and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in the final.