July 13, 2008 09:25 IST
Indian wild card Prakash Amritraj battled his way into the final of the $385,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, beating seventh-seeded Canadian Frank Dancevic in Newport, Rhode Island, on Saturday.
The Indian Davis Cupper, whose father Vijay had won three Hall of Fame Championships, won the semi-final 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3.
He will meet second-seeded and defending champion Fabrice Santoro.
The 35-year-old Santoro, who earned his 450th career victory, got the better of Vincent Spadea 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. He is attempting to become only the third defending champion to retain his crown in the tournament's history and join Bryan Shelton and Greg Rusedski.
The 24-year-old Prakash is the first Indian to make a final of the tournament since Leander Paes claimed the title in 1998. His father Vijay had won the first Hall of Fame tournament in 1976, when it was a 16-man exhibition, beating Brian Teacher. The following year the tournament became an official stop on the men's circuit and it was won by Tim Gullikson. Vijay won again in 1980, defeating Andrew Pattison in a three-set final and in 1984 won it for the third time, beating Tim Mayotte in three sets.
Prakash went out of the doubles event on Friday when he and his Luxembourg partner Gilles Muller lost in straight sets to South African Rik de Voest and Ashley Fisher of Australia in the quarter-finals 4-6, 2-6.
