Zeel makes semifinals

SOLAPUR: Zeel Desai was the only Indian to make the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament here on Thursday.

The 17-year-old Zeel was leading 6-1, 5-5 when American Chanelle Van Nguyen retired. In the semifinals, Zeel will challenge the second seed Anastasia Gasanova. The Russia accounted for Karman Kaur Thandi 7-5, 7-5.

The results: Quarterfinals: Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Ola Abou Zekry (Egy) 6-2, 6-4; Chieh-Yu Hsu (Tpe) bt Snehadevi Reddy 6-2, 1-0 (retired); Zeel Desai bt Chanelle Van Nguyen (US) 6-1, 5-5 (retired); Anastasia Gasanova (Rus) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 7-5, 7-5.

Doubles (semifinals): Gasanova & Sviatlana Pirazhenka (Blr) bt Natasha Palha & Snehadevi Reddy 6-4, 6-2; Zekry & Anastasia Pribylova (Rus) bt Hsu & Nguyen 6-0, 6-2.

Quarterfinals: Natasha & Snehadevi bt Kyra Shroff & Dhruthi Venugopal 7-5, 5-7, 13-11. — Sports Bureau