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 $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the City Centre Tennis Complex here 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 the sole surviving Indian in the tournament.
The 26-year-old left-hander stepped it up at 3-3 in the third set and dropped just 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 matchpoints from 40-0.
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 results: 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 .
