Top seed Manisha Malhotra and third seed Sai Jayalakshmi, both from India, registered contrasting victories to set up a semi-final clash in the $10,000 ITF women's Futures tennis tournament (second leg) at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana in Mumbai on Thursday.
Their quarter-final victories mean only one Indian will make it to the final, be played on Saturday.
Sai took an hour and ten minutes to sideline fifth seed Chin-Bee Khoo of Malyasia 6-3, 6-3 while Manisha rallied magnificently, after dropping the first set 5-7, to pip unseeded Zsuzsanna Babos of Hungary 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours ten minutes.
The third Indian to be seen in quarter-final action, Rushmi Chakravarthi, went down fighting to eighth seed Wilawan Choptang of Thailand 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6 in two hours 25 minutes.
Fouth seed and first-leg winner Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan defeated fourth seed Diana Julianto of Indonesia 6-1, 6-2 in an hour two minutes on way to the last four stage.
Manisha was a picture of confidence and was in great form from the word go. She served well in the first set but a lapse in concentration in the 11th game cost her the set.
With a couple of unforced errors she dropped her serve and lost the set 5-7.
But the Indian came back strongly in the second set and, with a break in the ninth game, was able to serve out the set at 6-4.
In the decider it was the Indian all the way. Manisha outplayed her opponent in all departments of the game and with a double break, in the fourth and eighth games, she wrapped up the match, winning the set at 6-2.
Sai Jayalakshmi had a much easier time in the middle against the slow-moving Malaysian. The Indian broke in the eighth game and then served out the set to win 6-3.
In the second set, she forced a double break in the fourth and eighth games before serving out the match at 6-3, 6-3.
The Rushmi-Choptang tie was a real thriller. The second seeded Indian was totally out of touch in the first set and dropped serves in the first and fifth games to lose it 2-6.
But Rushmi staged a great comeback in the second set and after dropping serve in the very first game managed to break back in the sixth. She acheived another break in the eighth game but then failed to hold serve in the very next game, forcing a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Rushmi led 2-0, 4-2, 5-3 and 6-4 before winning at 7-4.
In the decider, Rushmi was broken in the second and sixth games. Despite managing a break in the seventh game she lost the set 3-6.
Results (quarterfinals): Wilawan Choptang (Tha) bt Rushmi Chakravarthi (Ind) 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Diana Julianto (Ina) 6-1, 6-2; Sai Jayalakshmi (Ind) bt Chin-Bee Khoo (Mal) 6-3, 6-3; Manisha Malhotra (Ind) bt Zsuzsanna Babos (Hun) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles: Ludmila Rozsivalova (Cze)/Julia Vorobieva (Rus) bt R Chakravarthi/S Jayalakshmi (Ind) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Shruti Dhawan (Ind)/Yael Gliztenshtein (Isr) bt Iciri Rai/Preeti Rao (Ind) 6-2, 6-2.
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