CHANDIGARH, DEC 12 : Twenty-year-old Shweta Rana of India moved into singles semi-final of the $ 10,000 ITF Women’s Tennis Circuit at Djibouti (Africa) today. The third seeded Indian player from Delhi disposed of the challenge of eight seed 22-year old Alexandra Riley of United States of America in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-final.
Shweta will now meet sixth seed and giant-killer Hua-Chen Lee of Taipei who upset top seed Russian Yana Sizikova in straight sets.
Shivika Burman (Ind) lost to seventh seed Evgeniya Svintsova in three sets 6-2 3-6 6-1,
Shweta Rana, however, made her exit from doubles. Pairing with Yao Wang of China, seeded second, were beaten by Margarita Lazareva (Rus) and Kateryna Sliusar (Ukr) in straight sets in doubles semi-final round.
Results: Singles (q-finals): Hua-Chen Lee (Tpe) [6] bt Yana Sizikova (Rus) [1] 6-3 6-3, Shweta Rana (Ind) [3] bt Alexandra Riley (Usa) [8] 6-0 6-3, Evgeniya Svintsova (Rus) [7] bt Shivika Burman (Ind) 6-2 3-6 6-1, Barbara Haas (Aut) [5] bt Margarita Lazareva (Rus) [2] 6-3 6-3.
Doubles (semi-finals): Hua-Chen Lee (Tpe) / Yana Sizikova (Rus) [1] bt Tsukasa Yamaguchi (Jpn) / Rika Yamamoto (Jpn) 6-1 6-1, Margarita Lazareva (Rus) / Kateryna Sliusar (Ukr) bt Shweta Rana (Ind) / Xi-Yao Wang (Chn) [2] 6-1 6-4.