Eighth seed Zhou upsets by local player Lee, while Tedjakusuma ends her journey

South Korea's number two Lee Ye-Ra fought till the end to oust sixth seed Zhou Yi-Miao from China in the second round of "ITF Nong Hyup International Women's Circuit" in Goyang, South Korea on Thursday (May 28, 2009). Starting to play tennis at 11 years old, Lee, is currently at WTA 321 but her best was at WTA 178 in September 2008. I vividly remember her agile movement when Lee played at Jakarta 10K in her early year of pro career and indeed she was so bouncy in my opinion. So, it was the only shock of the day as 21 years old Lee barely won over persistent Zhou 6-4, 7-6(2).

Top seed Lu Jing-Jing from China had relatively easy second round match after she cruised past Brazilian Vivian Segnini 6-3, 6-3. Meanwhile second seed Ryoko Fuda of Japan came back from a set down to beat Pemra Ozgen from Turkey 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Also advancing into the last eight round was third seed Russian Elena Chalova as she edged past China's Xie Yan-Ze 6-2, 7-5. Xie is now ranked at WTA 513 but actually she was once reached her highest rank at WTA 184 in June 2004. Fifth seed and South Korea's number one Lee Jin-A posted a nice win over her compatriot, wild card Kim Kun-Hee 6-1, 6-4. Followed by sixth seed Han Xinyun of China who cruised past Indonesia's Romana Tedjakusuma 6-1, 6-3. Then another seeded player through into quarterfinals was seventh seed Hwang "sleepy eye" I-Hsuan who eased past local wild card Kim Hae-Sung 6-2, 6-2. Last but not least, the only qualifier into the last eight round was Aussie Shannon Golds as she booted out local player, Chang Kyung-Mi with 6-1, 6-1 victory.

In doubles' semi-finals, unseeded duo of Indonesia, Yayuk Basuki/Romana Tedjakusuma demonstrated their good tactics as they breezed past third seed pair, Hwang I-Hsuan/Zhang Ling (Chinese Taipei/Hong Kong) 6-2, 6-2. In the final, Basuki/Tedjakusuma will face top seed duet Lu Jing-Jing/Sun Shengnan from China. Duo Lu/Sun sealed a nice win over Thai duet Sophia Mulsap/Nungnadda Wannasuk 6-2, 6-3.

Photo of Lee Ye-Ra is courtesy of tennis.com.au