Top seeds enjoy mixed fortunes

Dubai: The top seeds in the men's and women's competitions had mixed fortunes in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Aviation Cup F1 Futures tennis tournament at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Portugal's Magali De Lattre, the top seed in the women's draw, powered her way past her friend and seventh seed Lara Rafful. She beat the Brazilian 6-1, 7-5.

The men's top seed Pavel Chekhov struggled before falling to Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (6), 6-2.

De Lattre will now meet fifth seed Marta Sirotkina after the Russian stunned third seed Karolina Nowak 6-4, 6-1.

Chiudinelli's opponent in the semifinal will be Ivo Klec after the fourth seed from Slovakia got past Great Britain's Chris Eaton 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

"I started off well and my serves worked great at the beginning of the match," said top seed De Lattre after her match against her Brazilian opponent.

"But then she started playing and I sort of fell off to sleep. Luckily I woke up at the right time," said the Portuguese player.

Rafful, who was struggling with an injured shoulder, was pleased that she was competitive against the top seed.

She said: "Maybe the result could have been better if my shoulder was okay."

Sirotkina, the only Russian out of the six in the main draw to make it to the last four, was hoping for a much better performance in her semifinal against De Lattre on Friday.

Wild card

"I am looking at the wild card they will give for the qualifiers of the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open. I am here to win," said the fifth seed.

The men's top seed was up against some consistent play from his Swiss opponent despite a nagging knee.

Chiudinelli held his nerve and his patience paid off as he won the first set tie-break 8-6.

As the second set progressed, the Russian top seed's patience deserted him .

Chiudinelli eased past 6-2 to book his place in the semifinal against Slovakian Ivo Klec.

The Gulf's challenge too ended on Thursday when Mohammad Al Gareeb from Kuwait went down 6-4, 7-5 against Monaco's Benjamin Balleret, who will take on Sergeyev.

Action will continue on Friday from 2 pm with the men's and women's semifinals followed by the two finals for the doubles titles. The singles finals will be played on Saturday.

Results

Women's singles quarterfinals: Magali De Lattre bt Lara Rafful 6-1, 7-5; Alexandra Damaschin bt Sophie Cornerotte 6-3, 6-3; Manana Shapakidze bt Zuzana Linhova 6-1, 4-6, 6-3; Marta Sirotkina bt Karolina Nowak 6-1, 6-4.

Men's singles quarterfinals: Ivan Sergeyev bt Tobias Klein 6-4, 6-4; Benjamin Balleret bt Mohammad Al Gareeb 6-4, 7-5; Marco Chiudinelli bt Pavel Chekhov 7-6 (6), 6-2; Ivo Klec bt Chris Eaton 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.