TASHKENT, October 15, 2015

Top seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, second seeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, third seeded Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, fourth seeded Yuki Bhambri of India entered the singles semifinals of the US-$125000 Tashkent ATP Challenger being played at the Olympic Tennis School Complex here.
In closely contested quarterfinal matches top seeded world ranked 67 Denis Istomin came back from the loss of the first set to score a 5-7,6-3,6-2 win in 1hr 46min over seventh seeded Evegeny Donskoy of Russia.
Second seeded and 78th ranked Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania came from being 1-5 down in the third set tiebreak to scrape past sixth seed and former winner here Dudi Sela of Israel winning 4-6,6-4,7-6 (7-5) in 1 hr and 55 minutes .
Title holder and world no 139 Lukas Lacko of Slovakia seeded third here overcame eighth seeded local star Farrukh Dustov 6-4,6-7(5),6-3 in 2 hrs and 8 mins , while Fast rising Indian and fourth seed Yuki Bhambri stopped the winning run of unseeded Jan Satral of the Czech Republic 6-3,6-4 in one of the easiest quarterfinals .
Top seeded Istomin survived twice in the day , as play resumed after being washed out by rains yesterday , playing the second round in the morning Local star Denis Istomin wriggled out from being (4-5 ) down in the third set tiebreak against talented German Maxmilian Marterer finally serving two aces to win 3-6,6-3,7-6(4) in 2 hours 50 minutes.
Coming back to the courts after 1 hour and 30 minutes for the quarterfinal match Istomin struggled against the hard hitting Donskoy . Istomin was broken in the 11th game of the first set by Donskoy . In the second set played in Fading light Istomin clawed back to win 6-3 and force the deciding set. In the third set played under lights Istomin proved too strong for Donskoy breaking him twice in the 2nd and the 4th game and ending off a tough day at the office.
Istomin will face 23 year old fast rising Indian star Yuki Bhambri currently ranked 105, Bhambri stopped the winning run of giant killer unseeded Jan Satral of the Czech Republic 6-3,6-4 win in just over a hour .
Second seeded and 78th ranked Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania who has enjoyed a great career run this year having registered wins over players like Sergiy Stakhovsky, Florian Mayer, Pablo Cuevas and Teymuraz Gabashvili came back from being 1-5 down in the third set tiebreaker to scrape past sixth seed and former winner here Dudi Sela of Israel winning 4-6,6-4,7-6(7-5) in 1 hr and 55 minutes hard hitting battle.
Berankis will take on title holder and world no 139 Lukas Lacko of Slovakia who overcame eighth seeded local star Farrukh Dustov 6-4,6-7(5),6-3 in 2 hrs and 8 mins. This is Lacko’s third consecutive Tashkent Challenger semifinal.

Singles Quarterfinals Results:

Denis Istomin (UZB) (1) b Evgeny Donskoy(Rus) (7) 5-7,6-3,6-2
Yuki Bhambri (IND) [4] b Jan Satral (CZE) 6-3,6-4
Lukas Lacko (SVK) [3] b Farrukh Dustov (UZB) (8) 6-4,6-7(5),6-3
Ricardas Berankis (LTU) [2] b Dudi Sela (ISR) [6] 4-6,6-4,7-6(5)