Karan Rastogi proved the lone exception as other Indian players crashed out in the singles quarterfinals of the Oil India $15,000 ITF men's Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex.

The 20-year-old Mumbaikar was stretched fully before he fought his way past Kyu-Tae Im of Korea 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in a tie that lasted more than two and a half hour.

Having lost to the 783rd ranked Korean rather tamely last week on clay in the second round at Kolkata, Karan knew the importance of taking the first set. He did miss four set-points on the Korean's serve in the tenth game, but Karan showed the required urgency to clinch the tie-break.

After losing the second set, following a break in the sixth game, Karan bounced back quite strongly in the decider, hitting his strokes with a lot of verve and depth, especially on the backhand.

Karan raced to a 4-1 lead despite being broken in the third game, and stayed ahead with a smart game. The 370th ranked Karan will take on the champion of last week, the sixth-seeded Todor Enev of Bulgaria in the semifinals.