Indian challengers Sahaja Yamalapalli and Rutuja Bhosale's impressive run came to an end in the pre-quarterfinals as they went down fighting in their respective women's singles matches to bow out of the L&T Mumbai Open Tennis Championships on Thursday. (More Tennis News)
The 23-year-old Yamalapalli, a wild card entrant and ranked 336, had chances against the 162nd ranked and 20-year-old Polina Kudermetova of Russia but blew them away to suffer a 6-1 3-6 5-7 defeat in a close to two hours contest.
Bhosale, another wildcard entrant, showed a lot of promise initially before losing to eighth seed Katie Volynets of USA earlier in the day. The 22-year-old American beat the 27-year-old Indian 7-6(8) 2-6 6-1 in just under three hours to advance to the last-eight round.
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Volynets has now defeated a second successive Indian opponent after having beaten India No. 1 Ankita Raina in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, Volynets will take on South Korea' Sohyun Park, who defeated Italy' Camilla Rosatello 6-3 5-7 6-3.
Meanwhile, Russian teen sensation Alina Korneeva has withdrawn from the competition. The 16-year-old Korneeva, winner of two Grand Slam girls' singles titles, is down with a viral illness and will not take on Australian Storm Hunter in the quarterfinals.
In doubles action, India's top-ranked doubles player Prarthana Thombare and her Dutch partner Arianne Hartono stormed into the semifinals.
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The unseeded duo registered a comfortable 6-4 6-2 win over the Greek-Aussie combination of Sapfo Sakellaridi and Olivia Tjandramulia to set up a semifinal clash against Sohyun Park and Zhibek Kulambayeva.
