Playing in his first PSA tournament since winning December’s $10,000 Florida Open as a qualifier, former Trinity No. 1 Vikram Malhotra is in the midst of another astounding run as a qualifier in the $15,000 Oregon Open at Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland.
The Indian international took out fifth-seeded Chris Gordon in the first round of the main draw in five games Wednesday, then fourth-seeded Todd Harrity in Thursday’s quarterfinals in four games.
With his victory, Malhotra avenges his loss against Harrity in 2012 U.S. College Team Championships, where Harrity’s victory propelled Princeton to a national title, ending Trinity’s historic streak of thirteen consecutive national titles.
The other three semifinalists are the tournament’s top three seeds.
German three seed Raphael Kandra endured the longest match of the night, coming back from losing the first two games to defeat Qatar’s Abdulla Mohd Al Tamini 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 in seventy-three minutes.
Kandra will face top-seeded Egyptian Omar Abdel Meguid in the first semifinal Friday at 6pm PT.
Malhotra will contest his semifinal against Egyptian two seed Karim Ali Fathi, who has yet to drop a game all tournament at 8pm PT.
Both matches are streaming and scoring live on U.S. Pro Series Live powered by www.clublocker.com.