Roberto Ortega-Olmedo upstaged top seed Benjamin Mitchell of Australia 6-4, 2-0 in the semi-finals yesterday.
KUCHING: With top seeds Benjamin Mitchell and Shuichi Sekiguchi out of the way, Spanish challenger Roberto Ortega-Olmedo’s only hurdle to clinching the singles crown at the ITF Men’s Futures US$15,000 tournament at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre is compatriot Carlos Boluda-Purkiss.
Roberto, who is tournament third seed and ranked ATP No. 338, upset top seed Benjamin Mitchell 6-4, 2-0 in the semi-finals yesterday.
He was trailing the Australian 1-4 but clawed back into the game take the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Roberto was leading Benjamin 2-0 when the latter retired, complaining of abdominal pain.
His compatriot had a rougher passage to the final, having to contend with Japan’s Shuichi Sikeguchi in the quarterfinals on Friday and that match had to be brought forward to yesterday morning because it was disrupted by rain. Carlos was then leading Shuichi 7-5, 4-3.
On resumption of play yesterday morning, Carlos rounded up his victory in the second set 7-5 to book his place in yesterday’s semi-final.
He had to work very hard for the victory, taking three sets to overcome the stiff challenge from fourth seed and ATP No. 404 Ivo Klec (Slovakia).
The seventh seeded Spaniard won the first set 7-5 and Ivo was not about to throw in the towel, taking the second set 6-4.
In the decider, Carlos played more consistently to win 6-3.
Carlos Boluda-Purkiss beat Ivo Klec of Slovakia 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to set up an all-Spanish final with Roberto Ortega-Olmedo.