TWO big seeds went out of the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge on Day 4 at the Metropolitan Resort and Beach Club (MR&BC) yesterday.

The first blow came when the experienced senior Tour player from the Netherlands Seda Noorlander lost 1-6, 2-6 to qualifier Ekaterina Syssoeva of Russia in the pre-quarterfinal on Court 3.

Runner-up last year, Aniko Kapros (Hungary), seeded four this time, went down tamely to Japanese world number 168 Shinobu Asagoe 3-6, 1-6, later in a Court 1 last 16 encounter.

The others joining the quarter-final lineup yesterday were the second seed Eva Dyrberg of Denmark who withstood Venezuelan number one Maria Vento-Kabchi’s attacking baseline play for a 7-6, 6-4 win, and fifth seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic who had to wage a three-hour plus battle against team-mate Eva Krejcova before scampering home 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In the quarter-finals starting at 4pm today, Indonesia’s Angelique Widjaja meets Eva in what should be a clash worth going all the way to watch at Mina Seyahi, where MR&BC is located.

The sixth seeded Wimbledon junior champion from Bandung has all the credentials for an upset against the fluent stroke-play of the Dane.

At the same time on Court 3 dangerous floater Camille Pin of France takes on another equally dangerous player here, Ekaterina.

Russia’s Galina Fokina’s giantkilling run will definitely be on test when Belarus’ strong Olga Barabanchikova will be there in her attempt to progress into the semis.

Olga with her good looks and powerful play looks a good bet for a win here but Galina has a forehand and a good serve to tilt the scales in her favour again.

Olga, now ranked 433 after slipping from below 50 two seasons ago is on a comeback trail after a long layoff. Her demolition of Hungarian veteran Katalin Marosi-Aracama on Wednesday night makes her one of the favourites for the title this year.

Today’s concluding last eight fixture is between Shinobu and Klara. Shinobu has the experience and guile after being a top 50 player in the world in 2001 but Klara is one that never gives up and has a superb running forehand that can trouble most players here.

Klara’s fightback in the last 16 yesterday is ample testimony to her fighting qualities.

Coming back to yesterday’s action, the match of the day turned out to be a near washout as Shinobu eased past a slightly heavier and slow serving Aniko who reached the final last year unseeded.

Surprisingly, Aniko whose serves let her down in against Eleni Danniidou in the 2001 showdown, still remain the same. The first serve had nothing in it in terms of speed and the second though spin charged fell far too short in length.

The 22-year-old Japanese lady was quick on her feet and had the ability to return deep off both hands against Aniko who last year was the world junior number two.

“I was better today and I am also lucky that my opponent made mistakes early in the match and I think the turning point was when she lost serve after a close third set to trail 3-0,” Shinobu said.

Ekaterina could prove to be the surprise package of the tournament this year. Ranked 326 in the world she had to qualify here and has been improving from game to game. The build-up looks solid.

Seda was expected to cruise past her but the Russian’s superior ground strokes and consistency with her cross court shots saw the latter advancing.

Czech Klara kept her seeding intact with a spirited fight-back against her friend from home. Krejcova shrugged off two service losses to clinch the first set 6-4 and led 4-3 with serve to come but somehow got lost in between to lose the second set 6-3.

The third was equally well fought but Klara’s improving form off late came to her help in the closing stages.

Eva is a fleet footed player and can actually play single handed shots both ways but prefers a double handed backhand. She has an effective first serve backed by a flat spin charged second.

Her match against Maria saw both players lose serves often.

“We lost serves so much that we lost count but I was unlucky when I sportingly agreed to a disputable line call in the second set after fighting from 2-5 to 4-5 with serve to come,” Maria said.

“The windy conditions affected us and in the second set I lost concentration for no particular reason. At that moment I led 5-2, struggled to a 5-4 situation before pulling it off with my serve in the 10th,” said Eva.

Eva in fact ended the affair in style with an ace to Maria’s right hand corner.

In doubles quarter-final action last night, Ekaterina partnered Goulnara Fattakhetdinc (Russia) to go past fourth seeds Caroline Schneider (Germany) and Andreea Vanc (Romania) 6-1, 6-4 while the Klemenschits (Austria) twins, Daniela and Sandra, went down in two closely fought sets 6-7, 4-6 to Bahia Mouhtassine (Morocco) and Angelique.

In the doubles semis tonight after the singles quarterfinals, the South Korean-Hong Kong pair of Jeon Mi-Ra and Tong Ka Pong meet Bahia and Angelique on Court 1 and Kirstin Freye (Germany) and Seda take on Ekaterina and Goulnara on Court 3.