This was amply demonstrated by Johan Hede in the semifinals of the GVK Satellite tournament at Gymkhana tennis complex here today. Down by a set, the fourth seeded Swede staged a magnificent fightback against top seed Prahlad Srinath and did not give up hope until he went down in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6.

Srinath may have overcome Hede, but he has yet another Swede standing between him and the second Satellite title. He is Federico Rovai, the second seed, who disposed of German Patrick Erhardt 6-2, 6-1 in a match Rovai would like to forget as if it were a nightmare. No, he did not play atrociously and still won, but in fact his opponent simply did not allow him to play the semifinal as it should have been.

``I simply kept the ball in, hegave it to me on a platter,'' Rovai said about Erhardt who gave up the ghost after losing the first set. The German never seemed to agree with anything that happened to him on the court.

The match had become such a farce in the second set that when Erhardt kept smacking the ball wildly either into the net or beyond the lines, Rovai importuned, ``Please give me a chance to score a good point,'' to which Erhardt responded by switching the racquet to his left hand and served the last game.

``It's not good in three ways. For me, for him (Erhardt) and for you guys (spectators) who come to watch. Particularly for kids who learn by watching seniors,'' Rovai said apologetically.

However, the Srinath-Hede match may have surely gladdened the heart of Rovai who watched from the stands. For, throughout it was a no-holds-barred affair.

There was no trace of the effects of cramps Srinath had suffered yesterday as he went into the semifinal. ``I feel a lot better, should have a good match,'' was what Srinath saidbefore walking onto the court. And truely, Srinath had a good match, both as a test of his form and as a prelude to the big test on the morrow.

The best thing to happen to Srinath today was that he regained the sharpness in his game. There was sting in his first serve all right as was evident in his very first serve, an ace. But importantly, he got his big serves in when he wanted. Although the occasions when he followed his serve to the net were few, he frequently chipped and charged to score overhead volleys or winners.

But what unsettled Hede most was the sudden change in the pace of Srinath's returns which helped the Indian start the match straightaway with a break. Hede too was not far behind. He began his next service game with an ace and after successfully passing Srinath who attacked the Swede's second serve, Hede put pressure on the Indian at the net and duly earned the break-back in the fourth game.

But Hede's erratic serve and a couple of immaculate returns from Srinath resulted in the Indianagain wresting the initiative with a second break, in the fifth, which eventually clinched him the set.

For some strange reason, Srinath became defensive in the second set. Incidentally, that was also when Hede began striking the ball early, hustling Srinath from flank to flank. Adding to Srinath's woes was the drop in the success percentage of his first serves, while Hede came up with some booming ones.

Despite dropping serve in the fifth game, Hede pocketed the set with breaks in the eighth and tenth games which meant the Swede picked up four games on the trot (7th to 10th).

The deciding set began on an even keel, each breaking the other's serve. But that was when Srinath began to call the shots and returned the compliment of winning four games back-to-back to eventually move on and give himself a chance of taking another shot at his second Satellite title.

Results: Singles (SFs):

Federico Rovai (Swe) bt Patrick Erhardt (Ger) 6-2, 6-1; Prahlad Srinath (Ind) bt Johan Hede (Swe) 6-4, 4-6,6-3.