Third seed Isha Lakhani scored a straight-sets victory over Thailand's Thassha Vitayaviroj and set up a semi-final clash with top-seeded Indian compatriot Ankia Bhambri at the US $10,000 ITF-Shivaji Park Gymkhana women's tennis tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Mumbai-based Isha got past her unseeded Thai opponent 6-4, 7-5, but Ankita -- at 360 the third highest Indian woman ranker in the world -- struggled to get past her Hong Kong opponent Chan Wing-Yau in another quarter-final.
Ankita won the opening set quite easily 6-2 but Chan stormed her way back into the match by clinching the second 7-5. The extra effort seemed to have sapped her energy and the Hong Kong woman lost the final set tamely 6-0.
Another Indian, Punam Reddy failed to get past her more fancied Thai opponent Nudnida Luangnam and was ousted in three sets 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 in another quarter-final clash.
In the last quarter-final tie, Japan's Kazusa Ito whipped Thailand's Pichitttra Thongdach 6-4, 6-2 to line herself up for a semi-final outing against Nudnida.
