Mumbai: Third seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium was ousted by Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan in the second quarter-final of the L&T Mumbai Open WTA 125K Series here on Friday.
The 186 ranked Sharipova rallied to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 after nearly two hours. Wickmayer showed her class in the first set but was outplayed by Sharipova in the next two sets. The Uzbek was better in her placements indulging her opponent in long rallies before coming up with forehand and backhand winners quite efficiently.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus had it easy against British fifth seed Naomi Broady as the 96 ranked player coasted to 6-4, 6-2 win after 68-minute duel.
Sabalenka had survived a scare on Thursday after she saved a match point to went on to win against Chinese unseeded player Jia-Jung Lu 6-7(5) 6-2, 7-6 (4) ranked 163 after two hours and 32 minutes of grueling match.
Earlier, the 115 ranked Wickmayer was broken twice in the deciding set and summed up her error prone game by slamming last shot straight into the net and invite celebration from Sharipova.
The Uzbek player who had knocked out eighth seed Irina Khromacheva of Russia in the first round itself after a grueling three-setter to announce her arrival in the tournament will now meet Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia in the semifinal.
The 252 ranked Jakupovic ended French qualifier Alize Lim’s fine run with easy 6-3, 6-1 win in the first quarter-final on Friday.
Jakupovic had partnered Khromacheva late on Thursday to oust Indian pair of Karman Kaur Thandi and Pranjala Yadlapalli 6-4, 6-2 in the doubles quarter-final.
