Sania Mirza's dream run at the Korea Open came to an end when she went down to Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the women's singles quarter-finals at the US $145,000 tournament in Seoul on Friday.
The 19-year-old Indian, who shocked top seed Martina Hingis in the second round, lost to doubles specialist Pascual 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 at the Olympic Park tennis centre.
The deciding set, which the Indian lost 7-3 in the tie-breaker, was marred a series of chair over-rules.
Sania averted two match-points, but eventually succumbed to the guile of the 33-year old Pascual.
Sania said she gave her best but her 72-ranked rival proved the better player in the near three-hour contest.
"Losing the deciding set in tie-break is tough. I don't think anyone can ask for more than that," she said.
Pascual, who has three WTA Tour singles to her credit, besides 33 in doubles, played a steady game and capitalised on the unforced errors by Hyderabadi girl.
The former world No 1 doubles player next plays Japan's Ai Sugiyama, who eased to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Paola Suarez of Argentina.
With Hingis and number two seed Maria Kirilenko already out of the tournament, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli is the highest ranked player remaining in the draw.
The third seed faces Japan's Akiko Morigami later on Friday, with the winner going on to meet Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, who upset Russia's Vera Zvonareva 7-6, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
More from rediff