LaFrance upstaged

Top-seed Katie LaFrance of the United States became the biggest casualty of the Walton 30th Bangladesh ITF Junior Tennis Championship so far as she lost against sixth seed Muskan Gupta of India in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) in their quarterfinal fixture at the Ramna National Tennis Complex yesterday.

LaFrance, who caught the media attention when she arrived in Dhaka on a chartered flight along with her affluent parents, started brilliantly, winning her first round games easily but came unstuck when it mattered most. The 17-year-old however made sure her maiden Dhaka visit extended at least one more day when she, teamed up with Ji Min Park of South Korea, won the doubles fixture against the India duo of Gauri Agarwal and Riddhi Ramesh Sharma 6-1, 6-3.

Ji Min, seeded third, also made her exit from the quarterfinals when she suffered a 6-4, 7-6 defeat against Tanisha Kashyap of India. China's Xiaowei Hu and Jingyi Wang completed the semifinal line up when they beat India's Harsha Sai Challa Runa and Japanese Ichinose respectively.      

In the boys' singles, India's Mritunjay Badola, Rishabh Sharda and Pranash Babu and South Korea's Chan Woo Park moved into the semifinals beating their respective quarterfinal opponents.