Qualifier Sowjanya Bavisetti sustained her good run to five matches in a row as she beat Maria Timofeeva of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the USD 25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the City Centre Tennis Complex on Friday.
On a day when Karman Kaur Thandi missed a set point in the second set at 5-4 and was beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Berfu Cengiz of Turkey, the reigning national champion Sowjanya emerged as the sole Indian to survive in the tournament.
The 26-year-old left-hander stepped it up at 3-3 in the third set, and dropped two points in winning the next two games, to gain a stranglehold over the proceedings. She served out the match in the 10th game after missing three match points from 40-0.
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In the semifinals, Sowjanya, who had earlier knocked out second seed Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia in straight sets, will play seventh seed Sofia Shapatava of Georgia.
The tall Karman had done well to play two good matches on her return to the circuit after having played her last match in March owing to a shoulder injury. She dropped serve early in both the sets, getting into trouble. She fought back from 2-4 in the second set to be up 5-4 and had a set point on Berfu’s serve in the 10th game, which she could not convert to stretch the contest.
- Singles (quarterfinals): Jia-Jing Lu (Chn) bt Funa Kozaki (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2; Berfu Cengiz (Tur) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 6-4, 7-5; Sofia Shapatava (Geo) bt Freya Christie (GBR) 6-1, 6-2; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Maria Timofeeva (Rus) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
- Doubles (semifinals): Mana Kawamura & Funa Kozaki (Jpn) bt Karin Kennel (Sui) & Silvia Njiric (Cro) 3-6, 6-3, [10-2]; Petia Arshnikova & Gergana Topalova (Bul) bt Evgeniya Burdina (Rus) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-1, 6-3.
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