Seeded Korean ousts Zalameda

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am Riza Zalameda rammed into a talented Yoo Mi of Korea and lost, 6-3, 6-4, in their quarterfinal duel, bowing out of the PLDT Smart ITF Women’s Circuit Week 2 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center yesterday.

The second seeded Yoo, ranked No. 631 in the world, relied on her solid baseline game to bundle out the last local bet in the $10,000 tournament sponsored by PLDT/Smart, Holcim, Phinma and the ITF Grand Slam Development Fund.

Yoo, who finished runner-up to compatriot Lee Ye Ra in last week’s Holcim ITF event, will face the winner between top seed Elodie Rogge-Dietrich of France and fifth seed Liu Shaozhuo of China in today’s semifinal round.

Korean seventh pick Han Sung-hee, for her part, also stormed into the semifinals when compatriot and Week 1 champion Lee Ye-Ra retired from cramps after trailing Han at 4-3.

Han, a quarterfinalist last week, set up a meeting with the winner between Japanese third seed Mari Inoue and No. 8 Nicha Lertpitaksinchai of Thailand.

Losing the first set after stumbling into a handful of unforced errors, Zalameda regained her form and won the first three games in the second set.

But Yoo, who has yet to win a title this year, came back with crisp shots to win the next four games and snatch back the momentum.

Zalameda only managed to win the eighth frame as Yoo breezed through with mixed shots to end the match after one hour and 27 minutes.