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Ram-Levy in semi-finals
Deepti Patwardhan in Chennai
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January 04, 2008 19:24 IST

The adventures of Rajeev Ram just stop to cease at the Chennai Open.

After dueling with Rafael Nadal [Images] in the singles second round on Thursday, Ram, with partner Harel Levy of Israel, set up a showdown with Cypriot star Marcos Baghdatis and Marc Gicquel in the semi-finals of the doubles on Friday.

Ram-Levy rallied from a set down to beat the US-Russian pair of Jim Thomas and Igor Kuntisyn 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the quarter-finals.

The match finally began at 1720 IST, after being washed out on Thursday and further delayed when Chennai woke up to a gloomy wet morning on Friday.

Ram, a US player of Indian origin, dropped serve in the sixth game of the first set to hand over advantage to his opponents. The US-Israeli pair then failed to convert a break point off Kunitsyn's serve and get back into the set.

In the second, Ram-Levy sharpened their serves and played to the percentages. They got an early break (to lead 2-0) but were quick to squander the lead and see Kunitsyn-Thomas level the set at 3-3. They stepped on the gas thereafter, hitting some clean volleys, even as their opponents started getting distracted by the drizzle and court conditions.

Ram-Levy broke Kunitsyn at love in the ninth game and served the set out easily.

They were by far the better, more confident team in the match tie-break.

Having beaten third seeds Tomas Cibulec and Lovro Zoko 12-10 in the tie-break in the last match, the duo was quickly into their stride. Once they had taken the 4-0 lead, Ram-Levy cruised through to victory.

In the other semi-final, Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana will take on Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and Marin Cilic of Croatia.

The Ratiwatanas beat third seeds Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 while Qureshi-Cilic ousted second seeds Michal Mertinak and Jaroslav Levinky in a late-night match on Thursday.



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