Chennai, Jan 8: Trust a German to spoil the French party on a Saturday night. Herr Markus Hantschk, a 22-year-old from Bobrach, Germany, did precisely that by averting an all-French final in the ATP Gold Flake Open tennis tournament.The 127-ranked German kept his nerves at the wire to pack off second seeded Frenchman, Cedric Pioline, with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) score-line in the semifinals.Hantschk will take on Jerome Golmard, also from France, who earlier beat Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.Pioline, ranked 13 on the tour, was a victim of his own indecision and inconsistency. Ironically, the shot which felled him in the end was a volley which is reckoned to be his strength. But then, the Frenchman was punished for the innumerable errors he committed, and unlike last night, when he escaped to victory against Italian Davide Sanguinetti, Pioline was shut off by a dogged Hantschk.The fortunes ebbed and flowed through the two hour, 12-minute clash which alternately dished out somequality and mediocre tennis, but contained enough thrills to cheer up the huge crowd at the Nungambakkam stadium. Hantschk broke Pioline twice in the first set which provided insurance against a break of serve against him. In the second, Pioline broke Hantschk in the second game for the set.Tie-breaker seemed inevitable in the decider with both players serving well. Pioline had the best chance for a break when he led 40-0 on Hantschk's serve in the 11th, but wasted the opportunity as the German forced deuce and held serve for a 6-5 lead. Pioline won the next service game to take the match into tie-break.Hantschk managed to stay in front in the shootout and took a crucial 6-5 lead with a great pass. On the next point, Pioline netted a backhand volley.Golmard stretched: Earlier, Golmard provided rare moments of pleasure with his touch and an uncanny sense of placements which proved too much for Damm.Golmard, whose career is on the upswing after missing the latter half of the '99 season owing toknee injury, displayed super touch, both at the net and from the back.The 26-year old Frenchman, ranked 35 on the tour, had suffered a setback in 1995 when he went down with a stress fracture after having moved from 205 in '94 to 90 in the rankings. It shunted him back to 142 before he began a second charge up the tour ladder. He was 117 in '97, 46 the following year and finished '99 at 35. On the other hand, Damm, the 27-year old from the Czech Republic, and ranked 114, played as well as he was allowed to.Results (seedings in prefix, country in parenthesis):Singles (semifinals): 4-Jerome Golmard (Fra) bt Martin Damm (Cze) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Markus Hantschk (Ger) bt 2-Cedric Pioline (Fra) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).Srinath-Panja in finalThe Indian pair of Prahlad Srinath and Saurav Panja continued to surprise everyone at the Gold Flake Open. As if to make amends for Leander Paes' early loss, they stunned Tuomas Ketola and Oleg Ogorodov in the doubles semifinals of the Gold Flake Open6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (4) here on Friday.For the Indian pair, who wanted to just go out and enjoy, without putting any pressure on themselves, it was indeed a moment of joy today. There will be more joy if Indians can continue their winning act on Sunday.
