Sixth seeded Jelena Kostanic of Croatia and unseeded American Vania King advanced to the semi-finals of the USD 175,000 Bangalore Open on Friday.

The 24-year-old Kostanic was leading 4-2 in the first set when her opponent Maria Elena Camerin of Italy [Images] retired complaining of illness.

Kostanic, who has been a runner-up at two WTA Tour events, most recently at Pattaya in Thailand, will meet the winner of the match between Melinda Czink (Hungary) and Alonya Bondarenko (Ukraine) to secure a berth in the title round.

In the other semifinal, King overpowered France's [Images] Camille Pin, who beat Sania Mirza [Images] in the second round, 6-2 7-6 (9-7).

At 17, King is the youngest player in the singles draw.

Ranked 140th in the world, King said the second set was very tough.

"I decided to fight to the full extent and win the match having come all the way to India and I succeeded," the baseliner who prefers hardcourts said.

With the exit of Sania, the biggest crowd-puller at the event, from the singles draw, tennis fans seemed to have given a go-by to the WTA Tier-III event and organisers are finding it difficult to fill the stands.

In fact, even when Sania was playing in the singles, the stadium was not packed and the hype evident at the Hyderabad Open last year was clearly missing.

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