Srichaphan improves Tata Open chances

Last year's finalist Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand enhanced his chances of winning the singles title, even as two seeds fell by the wayside in the ATP Tata Open tennis championship in Chennai on Friday.

Despite being broken once in the second set, Srichaphan scripted an authoritative 6-4 6-4 win over Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, while fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina scored a facile 6-4 6-3 win over Tomas Behrend, a qualifier from Germany.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Karol Kucera, who put paid to the hopes of defending champion and top seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-1 7-5, will face Chela, while Paradorn will face Jean Rene Lisnard of France.

Earlier, Lisnard accounted for the second upset of the day, scalping sixth seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2 7-5.