Sania out of Korea Open

Sania Mirza's dream run at the Korea Open came to an end as she went down guns blazing to Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the women's singles quarterfinals of the USD 145,000 tennis event here today.

The 19-year-old Indian, who had shocked top seed Martina Hingis in the second round, lost to doubles specialist Pascual 7-6 4-6 7-6 at the Olympic Park tennis centre.

The final set, which the Indian lost 7-3 in tie-break, was marred a series of chair over-rules. The Indian averted two match points but eventually succumbed to the guiles of 33-year old Pascual.

Sania said she gave her best but her 72nd ranked rival proved to be the better player in the near three-hour contest.

"Losing the deciding set in tie-break is tough. I don't think anyone can ask for more than that," she said.

Pascual, who has three WTA Tour singles to her credit besides 33 in doubles, played a steady game and capitalised on the unforced errors by Hyderabadi girl.

The former world no.1 doubles player would play either Ai Sugiyama of Japan or Paola Suarez of Argentina in the semifinal tomorrow.