Chennai, February 13 Top seeds Niki Poonacha and Pruchya Isaro set up a final clash with the unseeded pairing of Mukund Sasikumar and Jay Clarke in the doubles final, following contrasting wins at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger here on Friday.
The Poonacha-Isaro pair, fresh from their Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open last month, defeated the all-Indian duo of Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 6-1.
The top seeds raced to a 5-1 lead in the opening set before Dev and Sinha mounted a mini-comeback to narrow the gap to 5-4.
However, the Indo-Thai pair held their nerve to close out the set 6-4 and sealed the match comfortably in the second.
In the second doubles semifinal, the Indo-British combination of Sasikumar-Clarke saved a match point en route to a thrilling 7-6, 4-6, 13-11 win over Felix Gill and Alastair Gray.
"I believe we played more aggressively and with lots of energy today. We were able to get the lead at the start but we got a bit complacent, which gave them a chance to come back, but we are happy that we closed it," Poonacha said after the win.
"I know them (Dev/Sinha) pretty well; they are both close friends. I would say they didn't play as well as they usually do; it just wasn't their day," he added.
Poonacha will now be aiming for his seventh ATP Challenger doubles title, while Isaro will be aiming for his fourth. The pair had previously won one ATP Challenger title together -- in Shanghai in 2025.
"I love to play in Chennai," Isaro said after the win. "I feel I am playing in my second home and want to thank everyone for supporting us. I would like to come back to play here again and again. We played super well today and I hope we get better and better as a team."
Earlier in the day, second seed Federico Agustin Gomez of Argentina advanced to the singles semifinals after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kazakhstan's Denis Yevseyev.
The 29-year-old Argentine, a four-time ATP Challenger Tour singles champion, will next face fourth seed Ilia Simakin for a place in the final.
For the second day in a row, Simakin was taken the distance. After defeating Philip Sekulic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 on Thursday, the 22-year-old needed close to two-and-a-half hours to overcome big-serving Petr Bar Biryukov 7-6, 4-6, 7-5.
Simakin is currently on a nine-match winning streak after clinching his maiden ATP Challenger singles title in Thailand last week.
In the other singles semifinal, sixth seed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal will take on unseeded Pole Maks Kasnikowski. Ferreira Silva, who is chasing his first ATP Challenger singles title, registered a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win over Greece's Ioannis Xilas and is yet to drop a set this week.
Kasnikowski, a two-time ATP Challenger Tour champion, came through with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Switzerland’s Luca Castelnuovo and has also won all his matches in straight sets this week.
