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Go Soeda of Japan in action against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, in Chennai, on Friday. (AFP)
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Chennai: When Go Soeda landed here last week no one thought he would be having an extended stay. But the Japanese has now become the toast of the tournament as he continues his giant-killing spree.
If Thursday saw the 120th ranked player beating the tournament’s fifth seed Croatian Ivan Dodic, on Friday he did something bigger.
Soeda showed the door to defending champion and world No. 17 Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter final of the Chennai Open. It is his maiden entry in the last-four grade of an ATP tournament.
In a match that saw eight breaks of serve, Soeda converted five of his opportunities against Wawrinka to pull off the upset in one hour and 43 minutes at the SDAT Stadium.
“I was tired and a bit nervous,” Soeda said at the post-match press conference. After all, he is been playing non-stop since last Saturday.
Soeda’s ‘friend’ and Japanese qualifer Yuichi Sugita was, meanwhile, sent packing by Nicolas Almagro. The Spaniard rallied from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4. Almagro will meet Milos Raonic, who beat Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, in the semi-final.
The hero of the day though was Soeda. The qualifer was aggressive against a player who could never find his rhythm throughout the tournament.
But these are the early days of 2012 and Wawrinka should not be much worried about this performance.
For Soeda, however, it was a red-letter day. It was quite an achievement for him as he was not only playing against a player of Wawrinka’s stature but also the entire crowd was backing Roger Federer’s countrymate.
Soeda held his nerves and, fortunately, his exhausted limbs did not give in. Hopefully, the tired sinews will not rest before Sunday.
Earlier, Raonic’s powerful serves and ability to hold his nerves on big points saw the Montenegero-born Canadian entering the semi-finals.
It may have been a straight-set win but it was not convincing — Raonic himself admitted at the post-match media conference. “A lot of things need to be addressed before I play the semi-final,” he said candidly.
The first set saw both Raonic and Sela holding their serves. Sela, in fact, played some good passing shots from the back court which kept the tall Canadian on the tenterhooks. “Yeah he pushed me up through the first set,” Raonic admitted.
Though Raonic raced to a 4-0 lead in the tie-breaker, some dilly-dallying on his part saw Sela clawing back.
But then at 6-4 in the tie-breaker, another ace — altogether he fired 15 aces, 10 of which were in the first set itself — came and the set went in favour of the man, who was voted the ATP World Tour Newcomer Of The Year 2011.
In the second set, Raonic broke Sela in the sixth game and immediately after, the short-statured Israeli got a chance to break back.
He had three break points but Raonic raised his game by a few notches. Two aces and two unplayable services saw him take a 5-2 lead.
At 5-3, when he was serving for the match, Sela refused to bow out without a fight. He had two breakpoints but Raonic once again had the last laugh.
“I was not impatient today… But was rushing into things too fast. I was a bit confused and that affected my game. Hopefully, I will be able to sort out these problems before the semi-finals,” Raonic said.
Top-seed Janko Tipserevic of Serbia beat Belgian David Goffin 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in a match that went well past midnight. At one stage, it looked another upset was on the way, but the world No. 9 woke up in time to book a semis berth. He will meet Soeda in the semi-finals.
semi-final line-up
Milos Raonic (Can) vs Nicolas Almagro (Esp)
Go Soeda (Jap) vs Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) | 
