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DOHA COLOMBIAN Cristian Rodriguez and Irish Sam Barry held the spotlight as they knocked both the Spanish top seeds out of the first Doha ITF Future Tennis Tournament at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

Rodriguez defeated No 1 Jordi Samper-Montana of Spain 5-7 6-1 6-1, while Barry overcame 540th-ranked Enrique Lopez-Perez in straight but tough sets on Wednesday.

For 777-ranked Rodriguez, the three-set quarter-final win against No 1 Jordi Samper-Montana was quite a big achievement as his rival is nearly 400 places ranked higher than him. Another reason that makes his entry into the semi-finals significant is the fight-back that he launched after dropping the first set.

Then the Colombian fired a series of winners to pull off both the sets to ease into the last four stage, where he will take on third seed Jules Marie of France.

Marie crushed the challenge of Great Briton Joshua Jones, conceding only one game in the match.

Barry, ranked 706th in the world, got the breaks at decisive junctures to win the tough match by 6-4 6-4. His semifinal rival is eighth seed Abdullah Maqdas of Kuwait, who also advanced with a shocking result against fourth seed Francois-Arthur Vibert of France.

The Kuwaiti defied his ranking (893rd) proved too strong for Vibert, ranked 671st in the world, and cruised to a 6-3 6-0 victory.

But Samper-Montana and Lopez-Perez had some measures of consolation as they qualified for the final of the doubles event. The top seeds easily downed Zaki al Abdullah and Abdulmalek Burasais by 6-2 6-2 to win the semi-finals.

In the other semi-finals, Alexei Filenkov and Denys Mylokostov routed third seeds Mark-Alexander Kepler and Alexander Lazov by 6-1 6-1 to storm into the final.

Results Singles (quarter-finals) [6] Cristian Rodriguez (Colombia) beat [1] Jordi Samper-Montana (Spain) 5-7 6-1 6-1 [3] Jules Marie (France) beat Joshua Jones (Great Britain) 6-1 6-0 [8] Abdullah Maqdas (Kuwait) beat Francois-Arthur Vibert (France) 6-3 6-0 [5] Barry Sam (Ireland) beat Enrique Lopez-Perez (Spain) 6-4 6-4 Doubles (semi-finals) [1] Enrique Lopez-Perez & Jordi Samper-Montana beat Zaki al Abdullah & Abdulmalek Burasais 6-2 6-2 Alexei Filenkov & Denys Mylokostov beat Mark- Alexander Kepler & Alexander Lazov 6-1 6-1