Indian Davis Cupper and second seed Harsh Mankad and unseeded Jasper Smit of The Netherlands will clash in the men's singles final in the $10,000 MSLTA-ITF Futures tennis tournament at the Dr Ranade Centre in Mumbai on Saturday.
In Friday's semi-finals, Mankad rallied magnificently after dropping the first set to pip unseeded compatriot Ajay Ramaswami 6-7(4-7), 6-2, 7-6(7-2) in a marathon three-hours match while Smit sidelined another unseeded Indian, Vinod Sridhar, winning 6-3, 7-6(7-2) in an hour and 20 minutes.
There was nothing to choose between Mankad and Ramaswami as both fought for every point till the end.
Games went with serve in the first set, forcing the tie-break, in which Ramaswami took an early 4-2 before Mankad fought back to level at 4-all.
However, a couple of unforced error from Mankad saw his rival not only regain the lead but also win the tie-break at 7-4.
In the second set, the Davis Cup star took an early lead with a break in the fourth game and never looked back, winning the set 6-2 after another break in the eighth game.
The third set saw both players fight for supremacy with neither willing to yield an inch. Like the first set, games went with serve, forcing the tie-break.
In the tie-break, Mankad took a 4-2 lead after his opponent levelled at 2-all. But that as far Ramaswami could go as the experienced Davis Cupper took the next five points in quick time to win the at and match.
