Giant-killer Jasper Smit of Holland upset fifth seeded Sunil Kumar Sipaeya 2-6, 6-0, 7-5 on way to the men's singles semi-finals in the $10,000 MSLTA-ITF Futures men's tennis tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.
However, the other three semi-final berths were booked by Indians -- unseeded Vinod Sridhar, Ajay Ramaswami and second seed Harsh Mankad.
Mankad had a tough time against local lad and seventh seed Mustafa Ghouse before prevailing 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and fifty minutes while Ramaswami sidelined another giant-killer and wild card Somdev Dev Varman, who had ousted third seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan in the first round, 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 45 minutes.
The youngest of the Indian players, Sridhar subdued lucky loser Sarvar Ikramov of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-2.
The Smit-Sipaeya match turned out to be a real thriller. Smit, who had packed off top seeded Rohan Bopanna in the previous round, once again came up with a superb performance after dropping the first set 2-6.
The youngest Indian national champion, Sipaeya, had things going his way in the first set. With breaks in the fourth and sixth games he won the set 6-2, but was a big disappointment in the second set in which he was blanked 6-0.
Though the Indian fought well in the decider, he failed to hang on and dropped serve in the 11th game before Smit served out the match 7-5.
