Pic caption: Aryan Goveas makes a forehand return in his match against France's Clement Larriere on ThursdayAryan beats France’s Larriere to make ITF semis
Coimbatore: Mumbai lad Aryan Goveas led three Indians into the semi-finals of the ITF Men’s Futures Tennis Tournament, currently on at the Perks Tennis Centre, Coimbatore on Thursday.
Aryan, the 19-year-old, Rizvi College student, fired down eight aces as he recovered from losing the first set tie-break to win 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (1) over Frenchman Clement Larriere in a match that lasted 2 hours and 18 minutes.
In the semi-finals, Aryan will take on top seed Sasi Kumar Mukund, who got the better of American Cameron Silverman 6-4, 6-1. The second semi-final will feature Pune’s Arjun Khade against Meng Cing-Yang of Chinese Taipei. In the quarter-finals Khade defeated Colin van Beem of the Netherlands 6-4, 7-6 (4).
After losing the first set, Aryan raised his game in the second after an early exchange of breaks to further break his French rival twice and wrap up the set.
The third set also saw an early exchange of breaks before Aryan broke his opponent to inch ahead and hold the advantage while serving for the match at 5-4.
However, Aryan could not serve out the match and was broken, taking the decider into the tie-breaker, where once again it was Aryan who held all his serves and also earned a couple of mini breaks, winning the tie-breaker 7-1 to close out the match.