India's challenge ended in the ITF men's Future tennis tournament when wild card Harsh Mankad lost to Bulgaria's Todov Enev 6-4, 2-6, 5-7 in the semi-finals at the Oudh Gymkhana courts in Lucknow on Friday.
The Indian Davis Cupper won the first set 6-4 but succumbed to his nerves in the next two.
The Bulgarian will meet third seed Santoshi Iwabuchi of Japan in the final.
Iwabuchi had little difficulty in beating Orest Tereshchu of Ukraine 7-6(7/5), 6-0 in the other semi-final.
After conceding the second set 2-6, Mankad showed some resistance in the decider, but remarkable control on his returns and serves saw Enev force the Indian into commiting unforced errors. Mankad lost the set 5-7.
Mankad was the sole Indian interest remaining in this tournament after higher-ranked Mustafa Ghouse, Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar made their exits in the pre-quarter-final stage.
In the doubles, the pair of Iwabuchi and Kim got a walkover and will face Handoyo and Suwand, who beat Enev/Moreno 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
