Top seed Isha Lakhani overcame a cramped schedule to power her way into the semi-finals of the $10,000 ITF women's tennis event at the DLTA Courts in Delhi on Thursday.
Forced to play two matches in a day after rains affected yesterday's programme, Isha won her second round and quarter-final matches without losing a set.
Isha, the highest ranked Indian on the WTA at 379, first defeated compatriot Sheethal Goutham 7-5, 6-0 before waltzing past last week's winner at Hyderabad, Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia, 6-0, 6-2 to enter the last-four stage.
But Indian hopes suffered a double blow when Thailand's Thassha Vityaviroj ousted third seed Megha Vakharia and Iciri Rai.
Thassha did well to end on the right side of a close scoreline in both the matches.
The Thai girl overcame Vakharia 6-4, 6-4 before halting qualifier Iciri's winning run with an identical scoreline in the quarter-final.
Second seed Rushmi Chakravarthy's 4-6, 5-7 loss to Giorgia Mortello in the quarters meant the field is now left with only one Indian.
Rushmi was perhaps feeling the strain of the tight schedule after winning 6-3, 6-4 against Taipei's I-Hsuan Hwang in the morning whereas the Italian seventh seed had played her second round tie yesterday.
Shruti Dhawan was another victim of the rescheduled order of play. She won 6-2, 6-3 against Sandhya Nagraj, but felt the strain when it mattered, going down to fourth seed Montinee Tangphong of Thailand 2-6, 6-7 (1/7).
