New Delhi, May 13 (Inditop.com) A twisted ankle in the second set saw Yuki Bhambri limping out of his quarterfinals match against compatriot Karan Rastogi while Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan marched into the semifinals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Thai Kittiphong Wachiramanowong in the men’s International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament here Thursday.
Second-seeded Yuki lost the first set 3-6 but was leading 3-0 in the second when after hitting a cross-court winner for the first point, he tumbled down writhing in pain holding his right ankle. Yuki did not feel comfortable even after receiving medical attention and decided to concede the match.
In the other singles matches, Ranjeet, seeded third, now takes on top seed South African Rik De Voest, who demolished last week’s champion in Kolkata Murad Inoyatov 6-0, 6-1 in mere 38 minutes at the DLTA complex. In the second semifinal, Rastogi will take on China’s Yu Chang, who rallied to beat Chinese Taipei’s Liang-Chi Huang 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Rastogi, who was a finalist in Kolkata, was clearly the better player. He served big and came up with solid groundstrokes while Yuki was sluggish and struggled to keep his unforced errors in check.
A former Davis Cupper, Rastogi broke in the second game of the match to go up a set but his game slumped a bit in the second as he dropped his serve in the second game to trail 0-3.
Rastogi, who is returning to the circuit after nearly three years injury break, was delighted with his performance in the last two weeks.
“Of course, no one wants to win like this. But a win is a win. I am just enjoying playing on the circuit and I am feeling good. I have always liked playing at DLTA. The new courts here for the Commonwealth Games are slow and ideal to develop one’s game,” Rastogi said.
rounak