Bengaluru, Bengaluru teenager Kriish Tyagi's inspiring run at the Karnataka Open ATP Challenger men's singles event ended in the semifinals as he lost to Australia's Philip Sekulic here on Friday.
Sekulic will face top seed American Keegan Smith who defeated Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in the other semifinal.
All eyes were on the 19-year-old wild card entrant Kriish after his stunning quarterfinal upset over World No. 328 and second seed Hamish Stewart.
But against the experienced fourth seed Sekulic, Kriish found the challenge a step too far, going down 0-6, 2-6.
The scoreline, however, did not fully reflect the fight the Bengaluru youngster displayed in patches during the semifinal.
Sekulic broke the Indian's serve in the second, fourth and sixth games to complete a one-sided 6-0 opening set, using his depth and precision to deny Kriish opportunities to dictate with his forehand.
The second set began with promise as Kriish appeared to rediscover his range.
The rallies became longer, and the Indian held his own from the baseline and matched his opponent through the early exchanges.
{{/usCountry}}The rallies became longer, and the Indian held his own from the baseline and matched his opponent through the early exchanges.
{{/usCountry}}But Sekulic broke Kriish in the sixth game and once again in the eighth to close out the match 6-2 and advance to the final.
Earlier, top seed Keegan Smith continued his impressive run, defeating former World No. 40 Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-4.
In the doubles, India's challenge narrowed to one pair as Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Saketh Myneni defeated top seeds S D Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-5, 6-1 to enter the final.
Adil Kalyanpur and Mukund Sasikumar fought hard but lost to Petr Bar Biryukov and Grigoriy Lomakin in two tie-break sets.
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