A file image by Rei Sakamoto | Photo credit: AP
Sakamoto, 19, lost the tiebreak in the first set but grew in confidence as the match progressed against the fellow teenager from Palermo.
He will face fifth seed Oliver Crawford in the semi-finals on Saturday. Crawford emerged victorious in a battle for the British, beating third seed Jay Clarke 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. The other last four match will see two unseeded players, Great Britain’s Felix Gill and Greece’s Stefanos Sakellaridis, go head-to-head.
While the Indian singles challenge ended on Thursday after Sumit Nagal went to Cina, the men’s doubles still has local interest. In the quarter-finals on Friday, India’s Siddhant Banthia and Bulgaria’s Alexander Donski defeated the all-Indian duo of Divij Sharan and Karan Singh 6-3, 6-4. Niki Poonacha and Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro also advanced to the semi-finals after beating Luca Castelnuovo and Rio Noguchi 6-2, 6-2.
The results: Singles: Quarter-finals: Rei Sakamoto (Japan) with Federico Cina (Stone) 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2; Oliver Crawford (GBr) v Jay Clarke (GBr) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Stefanos Sakellaridis (Gre) vs Rio Noguchi (Japan) 6-0, 6-3; Felix Gill (GBr) with Michael Geerts (Bel) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles: Quarter-finals: Siddhant Banthia (Ind) & Alexander Donski (Taurus) bt Divij Sharan (Ind) & Karan Singh (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Pruchya Isaro (Tha) & Niki Poonacha (Ind) bt Luca Castelnuovo (Sui) & Rio Noguchi (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2; Ji-sung Nam (Kor) & Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) bt Saketh Myneni (Ind) & Digvijay Pratap Singh (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Jay Clarke (GBr) & Michael Geerts (Bel) bt Tsung-hao Huang (Tpe) & Uisung Park (Kor) 7-5, 3-6, 10-5.
Published – Feb 21, 2026 04:34 IST
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