Top seed John Millman eased into the semi-finals of the Ningbo Challenger, but eighth seed Duckhee Lee suffered an exit against an unseeded opponent.
Millman had little trouble against fifth seed Go Soeda, easing past the Japanese 6-3, 6-4. Millman surrendered his serve twice despite facing just two break points, but broke four times to ensure his progress to the semi-finals.
Eighth seed Duckhee Lee was not so fortunate, as he succumbed to experienced Japanese player Hiroki Moriya 6-2, 6-2. Lee was unable to make any headway against the Moriya serve, winning just two points in that scenario. Moriya would break twice in each set for the surprisingly comprehensive victory.
There were few problems for Lee’s South Korean compatriot Hyeon Chung. The young star battling back from injury had little trouble against Cheong-Eui Kim, though the lucky loser kept it tight, broken just once in each set in the 6-3, 6-4 final score.
The match of the day was predicted as being the encounter between experienced Chinese Taipei star Yen-Hsun Lu and the young American Stefan Kozlov. It did not disappoint, as the young American battled strongly but was eventually ousted by the consistent Lu 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Lu started slowly, failing to earn any break points in the first set but found more success in sets two and three breaking four times to ensure the come-back victory.
Millman will face the unseeded Hiroki Moriya by virtue of the Japanese’s win over Lee. Given Millman’s form this week (he is yet to drop a set) there is little likelihood of that statistic changing.
The more intriguing match-up is likely to be that of Hyeon Chung and Yen Hsun-Lu, the sixth seed against the second seed. Chung has had fairly easy progress to the semi-finals (two wildcards and a lucky loser) so the match against Lu will represent his toughest test of the week. Lu is already battle-hardened after he ground out the win against Kozlov and I expect him to do the same against Chung.
