Isha Lakhani shocks fancied Radhika Tulpule

National grasscourt champion and third seed Sai Jayalakshmi along with fourth seed Sonal Phadke, eighth seed Liza Pereira and gaint-killer Isha Lakhani marched into the singles semi-finals in the $5000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Nagpur on Thursday.

After a relatively easy first set victory over Sheetal Goutham, Jayalakshmi had to ward off a spirited challenge from the Karnataka girl in the second set before prevailing at 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).

Sheetal broke Jayalakshmi at regular intervals but failed to hold her serve. Her defensive tactics did not work today as Jayalakshmi used her experience to call the shots from the baseline.

Wild card Isha Lakhani made her presence felt by eliminating second seed and fancied Radhika Tulpule in two sets. Tulpule was out of sorts in the opening set and fell away, losing 0-6.

Isha played a patient game against an erratic Radhika, who made enormous unforced errors mainly on her forehand. The second set saw Radhika fight back but the determined Isha kept her at bay. She broke her in the crucial sixth game with some deft placements on either side to win 6-0, 7-5 in a little over an hour.

After winning a closely contested first set, fourth seed Sonal Phadke had little difficulty in ousting Mumbai leg winner Samrita Sekar 7-5, 6-3 in another quarter-final.

Samrita, who excelled with her forehand shots, however, failed to capitalise on key points and made vital unforced errors.

Local girl Rati Kumar's dream run was ended by the consistent Liza Periera, who won 6-3, 6-3.

In the semi-finals on Friday, Jayalakshmi will take on Pereira while Phadke will meet Lakhani.

In the doubles semi-finals, Jayalakshmi and Tulpule will take on Ankita Bhambri and Sonal Phadke, while Samrita Sekar and Archana Venkataraman will meet Sheetal Goutham and Liza Periera.

Earlier reports
Isha Lakhani topples Archana Venkataraman
Rati Kumar in last eight