Harris and Jacquet work hard to earn a semifinal spot

CHENNAI: Top seed Billy Harris fought off a stiff challenge from Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov to win the quarterfinal on a tie-break, 6-3, 7-6(6) in the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT tennis stadium here on Friday. Losing the first set 3-6, Skatov, turning as hard as rubber, held out even when stretched in the second set. Down 4-5, he ended a 19-stroke rally with a spectacular forehand crosscourt pass to save a match point. On 5-6, he saved two match points as Harris made a couple of unforced errors.

Harris, too, crucially saved a set point with a forehand crosscourt volley when he was down 5-6 in the tie-break.

In the day’s first match on the same court, Kyrian Jacquet (France) prevailed, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6), in a similar see-saw battle with Shintaro Mochizuki (Japan).

Mochizuki lost the first set 1-6 and made it 2-all after losing the first two games in the second. Up 5-4, he saved a game point with a forehand crosscourt volley and, with a couple of unforced errors from his opponent, broke to secure the set.

He made it 3-all from 1-3 down in the third-set tie-break but erred for his opponent to save a match point on 6-5. Agencies

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