Four seeds drop like flies

Surprises continued on in second round of "Tarakan Mayor Women's Open 2009" in Tarakan, East Kalimantan today (May 7, 2009) when total of four seeded players crashed out. Recent winner of Balikpapan 25K Ayu Fani Damayanti stretched her 7 winning streaks after she dispatched second seed Stefania Boffa from Switzerland in such comfortable 6-3, 6-3 victory. In quarterfinals Damayanti will have her back to back match against Japanese Erika Sema since Sema also shocked seventh seed Isha Lakhani of India. 20 years old Sema had a bit of a battle on her hands, but she came through 7-5, 6-2.

Hao Jie of China posted a surprise yet nice win over third seed Vivian Segnini from Brazil 6-2, 6-2, and she will appear in her second quarterfinals of 10K in less than two months after Wellington, New Zealand. Meanwhile South Korean qualifier Kim Kun-Hee overcame eighth seed Nudnida "June" Luangnam from Thailand 6-0, 6-4. In the last eight round, Hao will be challenged by Hungarian Reka-Luca Jani. In the battle of young players, Jani edged past hard hitter Jessy Rompies 6-4, 6-3. In ITF Junior Circuit, Jani have won before over Rompies 7-5, 7-6(5) at Sarawak Grade 1 two years ago. Then Kim will face Yang Zi-Jun from Hong Kong in quarterfinals after Yang bounced back to defeat qualifier Kaori Onishi of Japan 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. It will be Yang's fourth 10K quarterfinals of the season after Jiangmen, Guangzhou both in China and North Shore City, New Zealand.

Another qualifier, Yang Yi of China advanced into the last eight round after she struggled to beat German qualifier Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic 6-4, 7-5. The only seed still claimed victory was Slovenian Tadeja Majeric who ousted qualifier Tian Ran from China 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles' semi-finals, both matches finished in three sets. The only local duo still in the competition, Beatrice Gumulya/Jessy Rompies had to work hard to defeat Reka-Luca Jani/Lu Jia-Jing (Hungaria/China) 6-4, 5-7, 10-2. While the only seeded pair left, duo Yurina Koshino/Erika Sema of Japan survived a thriller as they defeated qualifiers, Lu Jia Xiang/Yang Yi from China 6-7(4), 6-1, 10-5.