Top two seeds ousted from Tashkent Open

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Monica Niculescu and Alla Kudryavtseva pulled quarterfinal upsets Thursday at the Tashkent Open tennis tournament in Uzbekistan.

Niculescu ousted top-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3 in a match that took 2 hours, 41 minutes. Dulgheru won one more point (93-92) than Niculescu and had one more service break in the match but Niculescu controlled the third set behind a solid serving game.

Kudryavtseva eliminated No. 2-seeded Akgul Amanmuradova, who was playing in her hometown, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 with a 2-1 edge in breaks in the second set the difference.

Fourth-seeded Elena Vesnina routed Darya Kustova 6-0, 6-1 in 49 minutes. Vesnina didn't face a break point and lost only eight points on serve.

Unseeded Evgeniya Rodina won a place in the semifinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory over Stefanie Voegele. Rodina took 68 percent of the points in the final set.

The Tashkent Open semifinals will have Niculescu playing Vesnina and Kudryavtseva going against Rodina.