Kyra Shroff recovered from an indifferent start to beat unranked Pia Konig of Austria 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.
The 18-year-old Kyra turned the match around by reeling off six games in a row from 3-3 in the second set.
She moved well and was quite impressive with her volleys.
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She was at her fighting best in the third set, and even had an explosive exchange with the chair umpire who responded to her suggestion for glasses by saying that it was she who actually needed them.
To her credit, Kyra rarely put a foot wrong after that, forcing her opponent to repeatedly fling the racquet in frustration.
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It will be the first semifinal at this level for Kyra, who had made her international debut way back in 2007 in the WTA Tour event in Kolkata.
She will meet the seventh-seeded Celine Cattaneo of France who cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory against giant-killer Ratnika Batra.
The other Indian in the quarterfinals, sixth-seeded Ashvarya Shrivastava, matched second-seeded Nicha Lertpitaksinchai of Thailand stroke for stroke, but not for long.
The Thai girl was quite consistent while Ashvarya went out of steam after setting up a hot pace.
The results:
Singles (quarterfinals): Celine Cattaneo (Fra) bt Ratnika Batra 6-2, 6-2; Kyra Shroff bt Pia Konig (Aut) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Stephanie Scimone (Ita) bt Anja Prislan (Slo) 6-0, 6-2; Nicha Lertpitaksinchai (Tha) bt Ashvarya Shrivastava 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles (semifinals): Anja Prislan (Slo) & Kyra Shroff bt Sharmada Balu & Rishika Sunkara 6-3, 6-1; Stephanie Hirsch & Yvonne Neuwirth (Aut) bt Arantxa Andhrady & Sheethal Goutham 1-6, 7-5, 11-9. — Special Correspondent