Saturday, 29 September, 2007

Anabel Medina Garrigues, the top seed, was beaten 6-7 (5/7) 7-5 6-3 by Russian Anastasia Rodionova in the quarter-finals of the Guangzhou International Women's Open on Friday.

For the unseeded Rodionova, the win secured her first semi-final appearance since Quebec City in 2002.

The 25-year-old had not put together consecutive wins in the main draw this season prior to beating Medina Garrigues for the first time in three career meetings.

Rodionova's opponent in the semis will be Israel's Tzipora Obziler, who overcame a rough start to dispatch Loana Raluca Olaru of Romania 2-6 6-1 7-5.

The 34-year-old Obziler was a semi-finalist here last year, losing to Medina Garrigues.

In the lower half of the draw, second seed Virginie Razzano of France was able to continue her strong showing in the tournament with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

Razzano, who routed local player Tiantian Sun 6-0 6-0 in the second round on Thursday, is now a win away from her second final appearance in three tournaments. She fell to Gisela Dulko in the title match at Forest Hills last month.

The Frenchwoman will meet either fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia or Australia's Alicia Molik in the last four.

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