Harris and Jacquet work hard to earn a semifinal spot 

Billy Harris took out Timofey Skatov in straight sets to make the last four in the ATP Challenger Chennai Open tennis tournament on Friday.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

Kyrian Jacquet beat back the challenge of Shintaro Mochizuki in three hard-fought sets.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU

Top seed Billy Harris fought off a stiff challenge from Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov to win their quarterfinal on a tie-break, 6-3, 7-6(6), in the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT tennis stadium here on Friday.

After losing the first set at 3, Skatov, turning as hard as rubber, held out even when stretched in the second set. Down 4-5, he ended a 19-stroke rally with a spectacular forehand cross-court pass to save a match point. On 5-6, he saved two more match points as the Briton made a couple of unforced errors.

Harris, too, saved a set point with a forehand cross-court volley when he was down 5-6 in the tie-break.

In the day’s first match on the same court, Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6), in a similar see-saw battle with Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan.

Mochizuki, after losing the the first set, made it 2-all after being 0-2 in the second. Up 5-4, he saved a game point with a forehand cross-court volley and, with a couple of unforced errors from his opponent, broke to secure the set.

He made it 3-all from 1-3 down in the third-set tie-break, but erred for his opponent to save a match point on 6-5.

Tough conditions

“It was really hot and humid outside. So, it was really tough, both physically and mentally. I’m really proud of myself to have won this match, because I saved one match point and fought till the end,” said Jacquet, who dropped a set for the first time in the tournament.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): Billy Harris (GBr) bt Timofey Skatov (Kaz) 6-3, 7-6(6); Kyrian Jacquet (Fra) bt Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6); Dalibor Svrcina (Cze) bt Oleksandr Ovcharenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-0; Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Rio Noguchi (Jpn) 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Saketh Myneni & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Ray Ho (Chn) & Matthew Christopher Romios (Aus) 7-6(5), 7-6(8); Shintaro Mochizuki & Kaito Uesugi (Jpn) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 4-6, 6-4, [10-6].