From correspondents in Delhi, India, 10:33 PM IST

On a day when all his compatriots faltered, Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the lone Indian to come through unscathed, registering yet another upset win in the $15,000 ITF futures. His 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over second seed Japanese Yuichi Sugita gave him a semi-final berth Thursday.

Eighteen-year-old Prajnesh , however , began erratically and was broken twice, but he broke back Sugita both the times and in the tie-break, he showed enough grit to recvover an early min break to take the set.

The left-hander then broke Sugita in the fifth game of the second set to take the match in one hour 38 minutes.

Prajnesh next plays seventh-seeded Aqeel Khan of Pakistan who doused a spirited effort from wildcard Vignesh Peranamallur Chandrasekhar with a 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5 win.

'I was a little stiff to begin with and made unforced errors. Also, I didn't serve well in the first set. But then I was able to regroup myself in time and served well in the second set. But I am happy with my returns of serve today. All in all I am satisfied with my performance,' said Prajnesh.

In the other quarter-finals, top seed German Peter Gojowczyk pummelled Indian Rupesh Roy 6-2, 6-2 to meet sixth seed Hsin-Han Lee from Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals.

Lee sent India's fourth-seeded Sunil Kumar Sipaeya packing in a mere 53 minutes, 6-1, 6-2.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)