The tie was fought furiously with both trying to outsmart the other. Especially in the first set, which went to the tiebreaker Karan, the steadier of the two took the tiebreaker 7-4, to go up one up.

However, Nikhil hit back with vengeance to take the second, only to see Karan running away with the decider with a degree of confidence.

Karan next takes on second seeded Nikhil Kannan, of AVM (Bandra), a 6-4,6-3 winner over Kshitij Gupta of G.D.Somani.

In the team championships semifinals, brothers Nikhil and Vishal , of Hansraj Morarji, proved too good for the Mehta brother Jay and Raja, of St. Mary’s ICSE and won 2-0, while Dhirubhai Ambani’s lefthander Aashan Goghari almost single handedly took his team to final.

He first blasted Garuav Mehta 6-4 and with a weak partner Rohan Mahtani to clinch the deciding doubles tie 6-4, with Aashan covering the court all by himself for most part of the tie.