Tembe edged past fellow Indian Alok Bhide 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 completely dominating in the third set after Bhide, losing the first set, staged a dramatic comeback to win the second and equalise. Tembe snatched the deciding set 6-2.

In other matches of the day, fourth-seeded Dipesh Rao (Ind) breezed past Nomi Qamar of Pakistan 6-3, 6-1; fifth-seeded Mark Weaver (Britain) ousted V Akshay Rao 6-0, 6-2; and Sunil Kumar edged past fellow Indian Kedar Shah 6-3, 6-3. In the girls singles, top-seeded Sheethal Gautham overwhelmed Geeta Manohar (Ind) 6-0, 6-0. Sheethal completely dominated the match, never providing Geeta any chance to find her rhythm.

Others who entered the last four were fourth-seeded Radhika Mandke (Ind) who staged a dramatic comeback, coming up after being a set down to beat Marta Malinowska of Poland 2-6, 6-1, 7-6.

ITF tourney at Chandigarh: Sunil Kumar and Akshay Vishal Rao and two in the under-18 category, start favourites in the boys section while local favourites Shruti Dhawan and Harsimram Kaur are strong contendors for the girls title in the International Tennis Federation junior circuit tennis tournament to be held at Chandigarh from February 8-12.