Yasshmita stretches top seed in Brazil before falling in semis

PETALING JAYA: J. Yasshmita’s (pic) run in the Curitiba Open ended at the semi-final stage after going down to top seed Marta Dominguez of Spain in Brazil on Friday.

The Negri Sembilan player, ranked 72nd in the world, put up a tough fight before succumbing 11-9, 7-11, 3-11, 11-8, 3-11 in 50 minutes.

Yasshmita thus failed to get her revenge as she had also lost to world No. 49 Dominguez in five games in the ECP Open semi-finals in Sao Paulo last week.

Yasshmita, who has been training in Egypt since last year, had defeated fifth seed Ambre Allinckx of Switzerland 11-8, 11-7, 11-5 to reach the last four.

Another Malaysian, world No. 69 Yee Xin Ying, lost 7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 8-11 to seventh seed Lucia Bautista of Colombia in the quarter-finals.

Xin Ying had also lost to world No. 84 Bautista in the quarter-finals in straight games in the ECP Open.