But his opponent, Prahlad Srinath (ranked 541), had smelt victory and a brief detour was not going to stop him from a place in the final against Thailand's Danai Udomchoke (1077). Srinath won 6-1, 7-5 in an hour and 35 minutes and said he had been ``too soft'' in the second set.

Udomchoke, sponsored by Singha Beer, stayed well in his senses despite a second-set loss to Sweden's Johan Hede (618) in his semi-final. Udomchoke won 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, setting up match point with a running forehand cross-court before Hede netted the final point.

Udomchoke beat Srinath the only time they have met before -- at a Satellite tournament at Thailand in November last year.

But the Indian second seed expressed confidence that he would be able to put it across the Thai tomorrow. Srinath lost to Syed Fazaluddin in his last Satellite final, atChandigarh in January.

Srinath's start would have shamed Ben Johnson's steroid-enhanced muscles. Break of serve in the opening game and again in the third, this time with some difficulty. He dropped two break points before settling the issue with a forehand pass. A solid service game and the scores was 4-0.

The Italian, based in Sweden, made a pasta of backhand errors. In both sets. A bad service game, including a double fault among the five he had in the match, gave Srinath the set. The last Rovai mistake coming at set point when he tried a backhand drop.

The ball dropped on the wrong side of the net.

``I should have been more aggressive,'' said the Indian after the match. ``I was just content with hitting the ball. I became soft after the first game of the second set.''

Rovai, ravaged till then, raked up some roaring attempts and romped to a revival. He struck the early blow, breaking serve in the seventh game, going 4-3 up.

But the Indian, playing for a place in his fifth Satellite final,snatched a game point from the 25-year-old, slammed a backhand winner and closed the gap. A break each, four games each.

The balding Rovai did not lose his head over a near-perfect service game that Srinath affected. Down two match points, he served an ace and scored a forehand pass to prop himself.

But the the 24-year-old Indian was not to be denied. He rode on a double fault by the third-seed to move to match point number three and ended the contest with a running forehand.

Earlier, Hede dropped two game points at 4-5 and double faulted at set point down. But the Swede, seeded No 4, took the next set and overcame a 2-4 deficit in the third to draw level at 5-5.

But the 17-year-old Thai, surprised to have come this far in the tournament, was not about to let go. He emphasised his intentions in the penultimate point and served a warning to his final opponent.

Results (country and world ranking in brackets):

Men's singles (semi-finals): Prahlad Srinath (India, 541) bt Federico Rovai (Sweden,560) 6-1, 7-5; Danai Udomchoke (Thailand, 1077) bt Johan Hede (Sweden, 618) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

Men's doubles semi-finals: Sandeep/Nitin Kirtane (India) w/o Andy Fahlke/Patrick Erhardt (Germany); Zoltan Boroczky (Hungary)/Johan Hede (Sweden) bt Anand Radhakrishnan/Saurav Panja (India) 6-3, 6-4.