NEW DELHI: The Indians continued to struggle against quality opposition and thus their challenge was reduced to the doubles in the ITF Satellite tennis circuit second leg at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

For the second week running, an Indian failed to make the singles semifinals. The two in the fray, Pathanjali Ravishankar and Tushar Liberhan made a meek bow to Italians in the quarterfinals.

Below par show

After two quality performances against the top-seeded Alexey Kedriouk of Kazakhstan and Sarvar Ikramov of Uzbekistan, the 24-year-old Ravishankar was below par, as he was slow on his feet and indecisive in his approach.

In contrast, Jorquera was quite a handful with his explosive game and had the intensity of focus to scotch any hopes of revival that the Indian may have nursed.

There was some cheer for the host, as Vijay Kannan and Ashutosh Singh made the doubles final, beating compatriots and second seeds Mustafa Ghouse and Vishaal Uppal in three sets.

They will meet the Asian champions, top-seeded Murad Inoyatov and Alexey Kedriouk in the final.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Manuel Jorquera (Ita) bt Pathanjali Ravishankar 6-2, 6-2; Hyung-Kwor Kim (Kor) bt Dusan Mihailovic (SCG) 7-5, 6-4; Federico Torresi (Ita) bt Tushar Liberhan 6-3, 6-2; Herbert Wiltschnig (Aut) bt Yuri Bezeruk (Aus) 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (semifinals): Murad Inoyatov (Uzb) and Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) bt Manuel Jorquera and Federico Torresi (Ita) 6-1, 6-2; Vijay Kannan and Ashutosh Singh bt Mustafa Ghouse and Vishaal Uppal 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

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