Harsh Mankad continued his dream run in the year by entering the singles and the doubles semifinals of the US $ 25,000 LTA Spring ATP Challenger in Nottingham on Thursday.
On the other hand, Prakash Amritraj was comprehensively beaten by second seed and former top-100 player Justin Gimelstob.
Amritraj, with straight set wins in the first two rounds, couldn't match up to Gimelstob's experience, as he went down 3-6, 3-6 to the American.
Both the Indians were playing their second match of the day, as rain on Wednesday had postponed play.
Mankad, who had overcome third seed Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland in straight sets earlier in the day, crushed Swede Flip Prpic 6-1, 6-2 to enter the semifinal of the event.
That gives Mankad 22 points from this event to take his point total to 161 and his ranking inside the top-250 next week. He has collected 98 points since January. Only Leander Paes has bettered that tally in a four-month period since Ramesh Krishnan's departure from the tennis scene.
He will face sixth seed Robin Vik of the Czech republic in the semis on Friday. Vik, came back from a set down, to beat Jean-Michel Pequery of France 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinal.
In the doubles, Mankad paired with India's Mustafa Ghouse to beat Bart Beks (the Netherlands) and Mait Kunnap (Estonia) 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the quarterfinals. They will take on the American pair of Gimelstob and Brandon Coupe in the semifinals.
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