Japanese qualifier Go Soeda delivered the biggest upset of the Chennai Open, taking out third seed and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets en route to his first career ATP semifinal here on Friday.
After knocking out fifth-seeded Croatian Ivan Dodig in the pre-quarterfinals, the 27-year-old shut out the crowd favourite 6-4, 6-4 to make the last four at the Nungambakkam Stadium. The World No 120 now awaits the winner of the match between top seed Janko Tipsarevic and wild card David Goffin for a place in the final.
“I never thought I would win today,” said Soeda who, along with Yuichi Sugita, had become the first Japanese player to enter the quarterfinals of an ATP tournament since October 1973 in Osaka. “I am very happy to be in the semifinals (of an ATP event), this is the first time. I beat World No 17 in the world which is a good feeling. I basically I targeted his forehands because he’s got a very good backhand return,” noted Soeda.
His friend and fellow qualifier Sugita wasn’t so lucky. The World No 235, who had scalped eighth seed Olivier Rochus in the opening round, had three match points against the second-seeded Nicolas Almagro in the second set but the Spaniard fought back from the brink to score a 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 win to set up his last-four date with Milos Raonic. The fourth seed Raonic overcame Dudi Sela 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in an hour and 30 minutes.
Raonic had to sweat it hard against a determined Sela. Standing 5’9’’ to Raonic’s imposing 6’5’’, the Israeli doesn’t have the big game of the Canadian but what Sela lacked in power, so to say, he made up with tenacity and perseverance. Despite Raonic serving 10 aces and sending down at least a dozen more unplayable serves in the first set, Sela competed on equal footing, meeting the fire with his ice cool approach.
The contrasting styles of both players – Raonic trying to his bulldoze his way with his bazooka serves and booming forehands and Sela neutralising his opponent with solid returns and good court coverage – made for a riveting tennis. Only once each in the opening set, did the two come close to breaking the other’s serve. At 30/30 in the seventh game, Raonic had all the time and space in the world to put a high volley beyond Sela, but the World No 31 netted the ball to deny himself a break point.
In the 12th game, Sela gained the advantage with a stunning backhand cross-court winner but Raonic produced three big serves to take the game into tie-breaker. Given his game, Raonic always held an upper hand in the tie-break. The 21-year-old, with breaks in the first, fourth and fifth games, ran up a 6-1 lead which Sela could only reduce it to 4-7.
After a 52-minute intense set, Sela appeared to have run out of gas in the second. Two unforced errors at deuce in the sixth game gave Raonic the first break of the match which he converted into a 5-2 lead by holding the next. Sela did have a chance to come back when he had two break points in the ninth game following a double fault by his fancied rival. Once again, however, Raonic’s serves bailed him out.
Results (singles semifinals, prefix denotes seeding): 2-Nicolas Almagro (Esp) bt Yuichi Sugita (Jap) 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4; 4-Milos Raonic (Can) bt Dudi Sela (Isr) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Go Soeda (Jap) bt 3-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4, 6-4.