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India's Zeel Desai and Sahaja Yamalapalli stormed into the semifinals at the Aryan Pumps-MSLTA Women’s 15K ITF World Tennis Tour event at the Ramnagar ground in Nagpur on Thursday.
Alongside the Indians, second seed Anna Ureke of Russia and third seed Emily Seibold of Germany also entered the women’s singles semifinals.
The week-long tournament is being organized by the Nagpur District Hard Court Tennis Association (NDHTA) under the auspices of ITF, AITA and MSLTA.
Giant-killer Sahaja Yamalapalli upset sixth seed Jennifer Luikham
Giant-killer Sahaja Yamalapalli kept up her winning streak, shocking sixth-seeded Jennifer Luikham 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 27 minutes in the quarterfinals.
Sahaja, who knocked out fourth seed Thai player Punnin Kovapitukted 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday, continued her brilliant run to stop Jennifer in her stride.
Top-seeded Zeel Desai entered her fourth semifinal in a row, trouncing Sathwika Sama 6-2, 6-1.
Second-seeded Russian Anna Ureke of Russia, meanwhile, beat sixth seed Sai Samhitha Chamarthi 6-3, 6-3 to make the last four.
The winner of the last leg at Ahmedabad, Emily Seibold of Germany, seeded third here, banked on her experience to beat Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-0, 6(5)-7, 6-0 in the other quarterfinal.
In women's doubles, Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty and Sathwika Sama stunned the top-seeded Indo-German pair of Vaidehi Chaudhari and Emily Seibold 6(3)-7, 6-4, 13-11 in a thriller that lasted two hours.
Bhamidipaty and Sama will now take on the unseeded pair of Sai Samhitha Chamarthi and Soha Sadiq. They upset the third-seeded pair of Nidhi Chilumula and Saumya Vig 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-7 in the other semi.
The women’s doubles final will be played on Saturday.
Results at a glance:
Women’s singles (Quarterfinals)
Sahaja Yamalapalli (IND) bt 6-Jennifer Luikham (IND) 6-4, 6-4
1-Zeel Desai (IND) bt 7-Sathwika Sama (IND) 6-2, 6-1
2-Anna Ureke (RUS) bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND) 6-3, 6-3
3-Emily Seibold (GER) bt 5-Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND) 6-0, 6(5)-7, 6-0
Women’s doubles (Semifinals)
3-Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (IND)/Soha Sadiq (IND) bt 3-Nidhi Chilumula (IND)/Saumya Vig (IND) 7-6(3), 3-6, 10-7
Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty (IND)/Sathwika Sama (IND) bt 1-Vaidehi Chaudhari (IND)/Emily Seibold (GER) 6(3)-7, 6-4, 13-11.
