Jayalakshmi lone Indian in semis

The India No 3 put up an excellent show of baseline tennis and used her forehand placements to perfection in outsmarting Kozhokina.

Sai now meets giant-killer Lenka Dlhopolcova of Slovakia in the semi-final tie on the morrow.

Dlhopolcova, who got past top seed Eva Krejcova of the Czech Republic in the second round, crushed the hopes of India8217;s Shruti Dhawan 4-2 4-1 4-1 in just 56 minutes.

A resurgent Dhawan, who has had good outing in the first two rounds, failed to use her powerful services to any effect as the Slovakian pounded powerful groundstrokes.

Russia8217;s Olga Kalijnaia and the winner of last week8217;s 10,000 ITF event Urska Vesenjak will face-off in the other semi-final.

The Europeans, thus, brought down the hopes of Indians 8211; Jyotsana Vasisht and promising Sonal Phadke. The Kalijnaia-Vasisht match lasted one hour and 33 minutes as the Indian stretched her opponent to the distance in the first set.

Vasisht made a valiant bid against Kalijnaia as the first set went into the tie-breaker. The Russian was tentative at the start but after being tied at 5-5, she broke away to claim the first set 5-4 7-5.

Vasisth8217;s resilience then gave off as Kalijnaia converted all breakpoints to wrap up the issue taking next two sets 4-2 4-2.

Sonal Phadke gave Urska a taste of her game but it was not enough.After the Slovenian had taken the first set 4-0, Phadke forced a tie-breaker in the next which Urska won 5-4 7-3 before grabbing the third one 5-3.