ATP Delhi Open: Sakamoto, Crawford Set for Semifinal Clash; Top Seeds Advance

In the doubles draw, the top two seeded teams, Siddhanth Banthia (India)/Alexander Donski (Bulgaria) and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (India)/Pruchya Isaro (Thailand), also advanced to the semi-finals.

The ATP Challenger 75 event, now in its sixth edition, is being held at the DLTA Complex from February 16 to 22, with 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams competing for the title.

Sakamoto, a former junior World No. 1 and the 2024 Australian Open boys' singles champion, came from a set down to defeat fellow teenager and sixth seed Federico Cina of Italy 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2. He will next face fifth seed Oliver Crawford, who won the all-British contest against good friend Jay Clarke 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after saving a match point late in the second set.

"Jay is one of my good mates. We have played for the same country, so we spent a decent amount of time travelling around, seeing the tournaments and practising together, so I knew it was going to be a battle," Crawford said after the win.

"I was lucky to get away in the second, and then I thought the level was very high from both ends in the third, and just very pleased to get over the line," he said.

The second singles semifinal will see Greece's Stefanos Sakellaridis take on Great Britain's Felix Gill. Sakellaridis registered a commanding 6-0, 6-3 victory over eighth seed Rio Noguchi of Japan, while Gill needed three sets to overcome Belgium's Michael Geerts 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The possibility of an Indian champion in the doubles event remains alive. Top seeds Banthia/Donski recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over wildcard entrants Divij Sharan/Karan Singh. Second seeds Poonacha/Isaro, who won the Chennai Open ATP Challenger last week, extended their winning streak with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Switzerland's Luca Castelnuovo and Japan's Rio Noguchi.

India has produced all-Indian doubles champions twice in the past, with Saketh Myneni/Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri/Mahesh Bhupathi lifting the trophy in 2015 and 2016, respectively. With the Indian challenge in singles now over, Somdev Devvarman remains the only Indian singles champion in the tournament's history, having won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

As part of the ATP Challenger 75 series, the tournament will award 75 ranking points to the singles and doubles champions, 44 points to the singles runner-up, and 50 points to the doubles runners-up. The singles champion will receive $17,000 in prize money, while the runner-up will earn $9,600. The doubles champions will split $4,980, and the runners-up will share $2,880.

- IANS