Olga-Iroda set up semi-final date

Kolkata, Sep 22 (UNI) Olga Poutchkova and Iroda Tulyaganova will meet each other in the semi-finals of the Sunfeast Open after running over their adversaries in contrasting manner here today.

Olga put aside Italian Alberta Brianti 7-5, 6-3 to become the first player to reach the semi-finals and Iroda followed 20 minutes later beating Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the next match.

The blonde Russian, who made it to the quarter finals of the WTA Bali meet before coming to Kolkata, appeared rusty to begin with, faced with some raw power from the stocky Italian.

Brianti, who polished off Angelique Widjaja in the second round, started on a promising note, winning the first three games of the first set (with two breaks) and going up 3-0. It took four games for Poutchkova to warm up, and when she did, she got one break back.

The 10th game was a huge one for Poutchkova. With both players operating from the baseline, the Russian, who came up from 198th spot in 2005 to top 100 this year, set up the break point with deep forehands into the far court.

She smashed an easy lob to get her break back and held serve in the next to nose ahead for the first time in the match.

And coincidentally, Brianti started making unforced errors. In the 12th game, the Italian world No 127's serve was put under severe pressure, and she succumbed to lose the set 5-7 in 44 minutes.

The second set was similar, but the game went out of Brianti's reach once Poutchkova broke her in the sixth game and got her two breaks back. It was a huge mental blow for Brianti. The Russian then won the next three to wrap up the match in just under one-and-half hours.

Meanwhile, unheralded qualifier and former World no 17 Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan saw off the challenge from Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to set up a semi-final meeting with Poutchkova.

Shikha Uberoi's outing at the 175,000 dollar Kolkata meet came to an end today as her partner Meldina Czink of Hungary, down with viral illness, conceded the match to Yulia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak, after the Ukrainian pair had clinched the first set 6-3.

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