Dan King-Turner loses Challenger seminfial

The run of New Zealand Davis Cup player Dan King-Turner has come to an end at the semifinals of singles at the US$50,000 Binghampton Challenger in New York.

King-Turner had been on a roll of nine consecutive singles victories after winning a match in qualifying then the title at the Saskatoon Futures last week and then through to the semis at Binghampton.

However this morning he found American veteran Michael Yani ranked at 261^st too tough to handle, Yani winning the match 7-5 6-4 in one hour 28 minutes.

King-Turner served 12 aces again to his opponent's one, but the Kiwi still had his serve broken three times and scored one back against Yani.

In the end it was the shot making and rallying from the baseline which appeared to be the vital factor for Yani as he moved into the final.

The Kiwi should see his ATP ranking rise from 564 to inside the top 400 as a result of his last efforts over the last fortnight.

It was his second career Challenger semifinal, the first being in Spain at the US$100,000 tournament at Pozoblanxo, Spain in July 2010.

Meanwhile in Belgium at the 42,500 euro Challenger Grez-Doiceau fellow Davis Cup player, Artem Sitak has lost his doubles semifinal.

Sitak and Dutchman, Tomas Schoorel were beaten 6-4 6-4 by the Argentine pair of Facundo Bagnis and Pablo Galdon.

- © Fairfax NZ News