The adventures of Rajeev Ram just stop to cease at the Chennai Open.
After dueling with Rafael Nadal in the singles second round on Thursday, Ram, with partner Harel Levy of Israel, set up a showdown with Cypriot star Marcos Baghdatis and Marc Gicquel in the semi-finals of the doubles on Friday.
Ram-Levy rallied from a set down to beat the US-Russian pair of Jim Thomas and Igor Kuntisyn 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the quarter-finals.
The match finally began at 1720 IST, after being washed out on Thursday and further delayed when Chennai woke up to a gloomy wet morning on Friday.
Ram, a US player of Indian origin, dropped serve in the sixth game of the first set to hand over advantage to his opponents. The US-Israeli pair then failed to convert a break point off Kunitsyn's serve and get back into the set.
In the second, Ram-Levy sharpened their serves and played to the percentages. They got an early break (to lead 2-0) but were quick to squander the lead and see Kunitsyn-Thomas level the set at 3-3. They stepped on the gas thereafter, hitting some clean volleys, even as their opponents started getting distracted by the drizzle and court conditions.
Ram-Levy broke Kunitsyn at love in the ninth game and served the set out easily.
They were by far the better, more confident team in the match tie-break.
Having beaten third seeds Tomas Cibulec and Lovro Zoko 12-10 in the tie-break in the last match, the duo was quickly into their stride. Once they had taken the 4-0 lead, Ram-Levy cruised through to victory.
In the other semi-final, Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana will take on Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and Marin Cilic of Croatia.
The Ratiwatanas beat third seeds Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 while Qureshi-Cilic ousted second seeds Michal Mertinak and Jaroslav Levinky in a late-night match on Thursday.
