Marach to meet Vajda in ITF final

Third seed and Bombay leg winner Oliver Marach of Austria will meet second seed Ivan Vajda of Croatia in the singles final of the Indian Oil-Servo ITF men's tennis championship, being played at CP club courts in Nagpur.

Marach, who had beaten Artem Derepasko of Russia in Bombay recently, once again upset the top seed with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory in the semi-final on Thursday.

Marach lost the opening set tamely - 1-6 - but came back in style to take the second with identical score. He executed some bold, deep forehand crosscourt shots to baffle Derepasko.

The top seed Russian appeared to be drained off and was under pressure in the final set. After taking early breaks in the decider, Marach broke with some fearsome shots in seventh game to consolidate his lead and win in style.

Derepasko played a defensive game and stuck to baseline and lacked the killer punch. That was his undoing

In the second semi-final, Vajda crushed lone Indian challenger Vijay Kannan 6-2, 6-2, in 65 minutes. The left-handed second seed hit some blistering shots and moved into the net at regular intervals.

On the other hand, Kannan appeared lethargic and committed too many unforced errors throughout the match.