Three teenagers are through to the women's semifinals at the Auckland tennis championships, one of them taking the place of the top seed Leanne Baker, who had to withdraw with injury.
Abigail Guthrie, 15, from the Royal Oak club, scored an upset over top seeded professional Baker who was playing
despite having her appendix out recently. At a set piece, Baker pulled the plug on the match as she had aggravated the stitches from her operation.
However, 24-year-old Baker still hopes to play in New Zealand Residential championships starting on Wednesday, where she is the title holder in singles and the winner of the doubles title for the past 10 years.
She will also have to be wary of putting herself in jeopardy for the upcoming ASB Classic, where she reached the doubles final.
Guthrie will face third seed Shona Lee, 17, who easily accounted for seventh seed Nicole Ludwig.
In the other half of the draw, 16-year-old Kairangi Vano beat an unwell fourth seed Paula Marama 6-3, 6-4. Vano plays the second seed and oldest player in the semis, Tracey O'Connor, 22, who defeated Varoma Vano in straight sets.
The men's semifinals will be made up of the four top seeds with Davis Cup player Dan King-Turner having a slightly easier than expected win over Matt Simpson in his quarter-final.
He will face fourth seed Matt Prentice after Prentice defeated Warren August in straight sets. Third seed Bernie Parun cruised through his quarter-final not dropping a game over North Harbour junior Ben Alai.
Parun has set up an intriguing clash with second- seeded Kiwi Davis Cup player Adam Thompson in the semis to be played today from 5pm at the Vodafone Tennis Park in Glen Innes.
Thompson was taken to three sets by Bay of Plenty's Austen Childs, who, at 16, has plenty of potential but lacks direction on court.
