Aurangabad:
Defending champion Dalila Jakupovic moved into the last-four stage of the singles along with Marie Benoit, Aleksandrina Naydenova and lone surviving seed Xinyun Han at the USD 25,000 Endurance Aurangabad Open Women’s ITF Championship here today.
In the quarterfinal matches played today the 367-ranked Jakupovic of Slovakia, who enjoyed a career best ranking of 234 last year, ousted sixth seed Riko Sawayanagi of Japan who retired when trailing 3-6 0-1 due to a cramp in her back.
Jakupovic will take on 19-year-old Belgian left-hander Marie Beniot, ranked 443 in the semis.
Beniot, who won a USD 10,000 event in Egypt late last month, outplayed Briton Harriet Dart 6-2 6-0 in less than a hour to take a step closer to her first USD 25,000 event final.
The 22-year-old Bulgarian Aleksandrina Naydenova, who shocked seventh seed Tadeja Majeric of Slovakia yesterday, continued her giant-killing spree as she toppled second seed Kai-Lin Zhang of China, ranked 166 in the world, 6-4 6-1 in just over 2 hours in another quarter final match.
Naydenova, who also has a USD 10,000 title to her credit, will take on another Chinese Xinyun Han in the semifinals.
The eighth-seeded Han scored a 7-5 6-1 quarter final win over Valentyna Ivakhnenko of Russia in 1 hour and 57 minutes.
