Pune: Czech star Jiri Vesely stormed into the semi-finals at the Tata Open Maharashtra with a three-set victory against Ilya Ivashka of Belarus at the Balewadi Stadium here on Friday.

Vesely, 26, despite losing the first set 6-2, made an unlikely comeback to win the second set 6-1. The third set saw both the players fight tooth and nail. However, former World No. 35 Vesely managed to hold his nerve to eke out a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 win. In another quarter-final, second-seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania recovered well after a first set setback to register a 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory against Japan's Yuichi Sugita.

Meanwhile, India's only hope for a title, the in-form pair of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Purav Raja will face third seeds Jonathan Erich and Andrei Vasilevski in the doubles semi-finals today.

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