India's rising star Sania Mirza upset top-seeded Vera Zvonareva to reach the semi-finals of the Japan Open Tennis Tournament, while Asia's number one Paradorn Srichaphan was knocked out of the men's draw on Friday.
The 18-year-old Mirza, the first Indian woman ever to win a WTA Tour title, powered her way to a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final win over the Russian in two hours 28 minutes.
In the rain-postponed men's third round, Thailand's Paradorn, the ninth seed, was sent packing by seventh seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
"It was hard to lose a match like this," said Paradorn. "I was up during the whole match. I was up a set and a break and eight match points. Suddenly my opponent played well, he was playing hard and better at the end."
Mirza twice broke Zvonareva in the opening set, but each time surrendered the advantage on her own serve before hitting an easy overhead into the net at 30-40 in the 12th game to lose the set.
But she rallied in the second and third sets, firing her dangerous forehand to both sides of the court for a barrage of winners and never allowing Zvonareva to take the lead.
"On the important points, she would play a great point with good ground strokes, which kind of confused me. I think I played one of my best matches," said the eighth-seeded Mirza, currently ranked 37th in the world.
"She's the number one seed, and I'm happy that I was able to play my game."
Zvonareva said: "I started out OK. I think I played well in the first set, but then I lost my concentration and couldn't get my game back."
"She's a good player. For me, it was important to concentrate on my game and do what I needed to do, but I couldn't play good tennis throughout the whole match," lamented the Russian, ranked 24th in the world.
Fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia, fresh from her first career title at the China Open two weeks ago, joined Mirza into the semi-finals after beating the 2002 Japan Open champion, American Jill Craybas, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 for a place in the semi-finals against Kirilenko, while third seed Tatiana Golovin of France completed the all-teen semi-finals by beating Japan's Ai Sugiyama 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile, men's third seed and US Open semi-finalist Robby Ginepri failed to celebrate his 23rd birthday in winning style, losing to Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals.
RESULTS: (x denotes seeds):
MEN'S SINGLES
(3rd round): Radek Stepanek (CZE x2) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 6-1, 6-3; Wesley Moodie (RSA) bt Luis Horna (PER x11) 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (2/7), 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen (FIN x7) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (THA x9) 2-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5; Taylor Dent (USA x4) bt Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.
QUARTER-FINALS: Bjorn Phau (GER) bt Robby Ginepri (USA x3) 6-4, 6-3.
WOMEN'S SINGLES (quarter-finals): Sania Mirza (IND x8) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS x1) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko (RUS x4) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Nicole Vaidisova (CZE x2) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Tatiana Golovin (FRA x3) bt Ai Sugiyama (JPN x5) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP: Mirza vs Golovin, Vaidisova vs Kirilenko.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES (semi-finals): Shinobu Asagoe/Maria Vento-Kabchi (JPN/VEN x1) bt Stephanie Foretz/Henrieta Nagyova (FRA/SVK) 6-4, 6-4.