Pune: A fluent Yuki Bhambri played with a lot of authority to reach the singles semifinals of the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger even as N Vijay Sundar Prashanth exited but not before making an impression, here yesterday.

Top seed Yuki tamed Taipei's Ti Chen 6-4 7-6(4) and has now reached at least the semifinals each in his last five Challengers. Prashanth put up a valiant fight against second seed Russian Evgeny Donskoy before losing a tight singles quarterfinal 6-7(8) 6-7 (5) after sweating it out for two hours at the Centre Court of Balewadi Sports Complex. Prashanth, who won three ITF Futures this season, proved that his victory over Somdev Devvarman was not a fluke.