Top seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia overcame a set deficit before winning her Singles Quarterfinal tie against unseeded Japanese Saki Imamura 2-1 in the ongoing IWTC-2023 ITF World Tennis Tour $40K Tournament (Shri Ganesh Naik Initiative) that is being organized by the Navi Mumbai Sports Association (NMSA) in association with Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association (MSLTA) under the auspices of the ITF, AITA  and to be played at the Ganesh Naik Tennis Complex in Vashi on Friday.

In a hotly contested round of eight match that lasted close to 2 hours and 39 minutes that witnessed multiple service breaks from both the players coupled with numerous dues games it was the experience of 185 WTA ranked Makarova that overcame the youthful exuberance of her 566 ranked rival by a set score line of 4-6, 7-6(5), 6- 1, for a place in the semis, despite registering eight double faults and the only ace of the match.

 In the semifinals Makrova will take on sixth seed Latvian and former champion Diana Marcinkevica who took out Daria Kudashova  of Russia 6-1, 7-5 in the last eight match in an hour and 25 minutes.

On the other hand the other semi-final will be an all Japanese affair lower half as second seed Moyuka Uchijima will take on her unseeded country mate Misaki Matsuda. Uchijima who survived a late fight back from unseeded Russian Ekaterina Maklakova in a three set thriller in the pre-quarter final earlier (5-7, 6-1, 6-3) proved to be too good for her unseeded country mate  Naho Sato  before prevailing 6-1, 6-1 in the quarters;  while Matsuda recorded a 6-3,6-3 win over Russian Ekaterina Yashina  6-3, 6-3.  

In the doubles finals the Japanese pair of Funa Kozaki and Misaki Matsuda will take on Kamilla Bartone  of Latvia and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

The unseeded Japanese duo registered back to back upsets in the tourney, this time at the expense of second seeded Latvian / Greece duo of Diana Marcinkevica /Sapfo Sakellaridi in two hard fought sets both of which were decided in the tie break 7-6(6), 7-6(1). It was their consistency both in the serves and returns that saw the right and south paw Japanese duo prevail over their fancied rival. In the other doubles semi-finals unseeded Latvian / Russian pair of Kamilla Bartone /Ekaterina Makarova defeated the Japanese pair of Hiromi Abe  /Saki Imamura in third set super tie break  4-6, 6-1, 11-9. The later were guilty of squandering three match points after leading 9-7 in super-tie break.

Results (Main Draw) 

Singles

Quarter Finals: 1) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Saki Imamura (JPN) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1; 6) Diana Marcinkevica (LAT) bt Daria Kudashova (RUS) 6-1, 7-5; Misaki Matsuda (JPN) bt Ekaterina Yashina (RUS)  6-3, 6-3; 2) Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) bt Naho Sato (JPN) 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles 

Semi Finals: Kamilla Bartone (LAT) / Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Hiromi Abe (JPN) / Saki Imamura (JPN) 4-6, 6-1, 11-9; Funa Kozaki (JPN) / Misaki Matsuda (JPN) bt Diana Marcinkevica (LAT) / Sapfo Sakellaridi (GRE) 4-6, 6-1, 11-9.