Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen lost a tough three-set battle to top seed Jarmila Groth of Australia in the women's singles quarterfinals of the 2010 OEC Taipei Ladies Tennis Open but advanced to the doubles semifinal on Friday.
The 19-year-old, ranked No. 112 in the world, was beaten 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4 by world No. 43 Groth, the tourney's highest-ranked player, before teaming up with Chuang Chia-jung to defeat Elena Bogdan of Romania and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 7-6 (7) , 6-3 in the doubles quarterfinals.
Chang and Chuang will play Peng Shuai and Yan Zi of China in one semifinal, while Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and India's Sania Mirza will face Groth and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the other.
In other singles matches Friday, Japanese 20-year-old Ayumi Morita cruised past Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-1 to set up a semifinal clash with Groth.
The other singles semifinal will see China's Peng Shuai, who beat Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, meeting 33-year-old veteran Tanasugarn, who had little trouble in ousting Japan's Junri Namigata 6-3, 6-1.
The total purse for the International Tennis Federation (ITF) event is US$100,000, according to the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association, which is organizing the tournament.
ITF tournaments are a tier below WTA events, which have minimum purses of US$220,000 and attract higher ranked players.
Defending singles champion Chan Yung-jan, Taiwan's highest-ranked player at No. 81, withdrew from the tournament last week due to pneumonia. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ls