Cerovic upsets Mazur

Ivan Cerovic of Croatia ousted eighth seed Dmitri Mazur of Uzbekistan 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 and entered the singles semi-finals of the ITF Futures tennis tournament in Bangalore on Thursday.

The Croatian won the first set easily but lost the second after encountering stiff resistance from Mazur.

The final set witnessed an absorbing battle between Cerovic and Mazur, with both of them winning three games each. Cerovic, however, returned to form and managed to win and set up a semi-final encounter with sixth seed Juran Hasko of Slovakia.

Hasko fought back, after being down by a set, to defeat James Auckland of Britain 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, in another quarterfinal.

Second seeded Martin Spottl of Austria, after some anxious moments, managed to quell Kokurin Anton of Uzbekistan 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).

In the semifinal, Spottl will meet fourth seed Rik De Voest of South Africa, who trounced Hendri-Susilo Pramono of Indonesia 6-2, 6-2.

Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar kept the Indian challenge alive when they entered the doubles final, defeating compatriots Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal 3-6, 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in the semifinals.

Mahadevan and Sridhar set up a title clash with the Indo-Austrian combine of Prahlad Srinath and Martin Spottl, who defeated the Indian pair of Vijay Kannan-Rohan Boppana 6-3, 6-2.