Wollongong NSW, Australia, 11 November 2016 | David Packman

Maverick Banes has defeated top seed Blake Mott to move into the semifinals of the Tennis Wollongong International.

The Queenslander conceded the opening set before bouncing back to take the match 4-6 6-4 6-3.

“Blake’s had a pretty good year but I was confident going in, even though I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Banes said.

“I had a big focus to stay aggressive throughout the match because once Blake gets control of the point he’s pretty hard to stop.

“He has some good weapons off the baseline and I knew I had to stay on top whenever I could and make sure I wasn’t defending the whole time.

“There were patches in the match where he was just playing too good and I was on the back foot but I did well to stay with him.”

Banes, 24, has enjoyed some reasonably solid form over the current Australian Pro Tour – making quarterfinals in Alice Springs and Cairns – but until now a breakthrough result had eluded him.

“The last couple of months I’ve been playing OK,” he said.  “So it’s good to finally get over someone the quality of Blake. Hopefully I can go even further.”

The $25,000 ITF Futures event is guaranteed one local finalist with Banes next facing Tasmanian wildcard Harry Bourchier. The 20-year-old continued his impressive run in Wollongong, edging past American Nathan Pasha 7-6(3) 7-6(6).

In other quarterfinal action on Saturday, Sriram Balaji upset second seed Sumit Nagal in an all-Indian affair, winning an epic battle 5-7 6-2 7-6(8).

Balaji will play perennial Pro Tour performer Jarmere Jenkins, after the American fourth seed dismissed Gavin Van Peperzeel in straight sets.

Live scores of all Australian Pro Tour events are available at www.tennis.com.au/protour/scores and for a live stream of selected events visit www.tennis.com.au/protour.