Trusunov, Berdych march into Kingfisher Open tennis semis

Mumbai, Sep 29 (UNI) Fourth seed Russian Dmitry Trusunov overcame a gritty challenge from qualifier James Auckland of Britain to score a come-from-behind victory in three sets at 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and entered the semis of the 3,80,000 dollar Kingfisher Airlines Open tennis tournament at the CCI hard courts here today.

Also making the semis was third seed Tomas Berydch of the Czech Republic who scored a straight set victory over Bjorn Phaus of Germany at 6-3, 7-5.

It was the third seed Tomas Berydch who became the first player to book his semifinal berth when he overcame German opposition for the second match in a row.

Berdych, who this year reached his first grass court final in Germany (Garry Weber Open), had things in control for a major period. However he should have scripted his progress in a much more emphatic way had he limited the unforced errors, committed especially from his forehand.

Turning for the first match on the centre court, Berdych, ranked number 13th in the world, broke Phau once in the first and twice in the second set to close the one hour fourteen minute quarter-final contest.

Phau, who defeated qualifier Gouichi Motomura (Japan) in the previous round, once broken early in the game, apart from a clear opening in the fifth game and late in the match, never really threatened the serve of Berdych, who fired eleven aces in the match.

In a match on Court one, it was the British qualifier Auckland who started off the blocks in a flash as he slammed five aces and with a break in the sixth game pocketed the first set against the world number 23 Dmitry Kursunov at 6-3 in 32 minutes.

Kursunov, however was not one to give up and came out in the second set with a plan to overcome Auckland's assault. The Russian proved successful as an early break in the second game saw him jump to a 3-0 lead to bag the second set at 6-3 in 30 minutes and push the match into the deciding third set.

In the third set, the fourth seeded Russian, fresh from an epic Davis Cup victory over American Andy Roddick 17-15, broke Aukland in the fifth game which was enough to give him the set and the match at 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 37 minutes.

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