Britain’s Melanie South reached the third round of the East West Bank Classic with a straight sets win over Petra Kvitova.

The 22-year-old made the most of an unexpected opportunity to defeat her Czech opponent 6-4 6-2 in Los Angeles.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) hardly had any problem in picking the competitors for the Beijing Olympic Games as most of them qualified on merit, but it is caught in a cleft stick while finalising the backup staff.

CUMBERLAND’S British No.1 Anne Keothavong missed the chance to reach the last eight of the Bank of the West Classic, losing to beaten finalist Marion Bartoli in California last week.

The 24-year-old threw away a potential match-winning position against the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up.

New Delhi: Controversies over the selection of support staff for the Beijing-bound Indian contingent cropped up on Friday when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) decided to include tennis star Sania Mirza’s mother as one of the officials of the tennis squad.

Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek overcame a fighting Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva to book a semifinal berth in the $600,000 WTA East West Bank Classic tournament.

The Indo-American pair, seeded second, pipped the Russian duo 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 in one hour and 14 minutes in the quarter-finals of the Tier II hard court event last night.