Hyderabad: Relying on sheer bravado and grit, Maria Kirilenko of Russia defeated seventh-seed Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a second round match to enter the quarter-finals of the $140,000 WTA Indian Open Tennis Championship on Wednesday.

Also making it to the last eight stage were giant killers kiko Morigami of Japan, Tzipora Obziler (Israel), fifth-seed Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzb) and eight-seed Silvia Talaja (Croatia).

In an action packed match at the Centre Court, the two youngsters Maria and Widjaja were engaged in a 150-minute battle to sort out the issue. Complacence creeped into Widjaja's game in the second set and the Russian was quick to pounce on the opportunity.

The 18-year-old Widjaja sent out a stern warning in the first set with her powerful backhand shots but the young Russian endured the pressure of long rallies and levelled the score at 4-4.

However, the more experienced Indonesian played some controlled shots with better judgement to take the first set at 7-5. The scores were reversed in the second set with the Russian taking it with the same 7-5 margin.

Widjaja fumbled time and again failing to clinch the long duel in the 10th game as the 16-year-old Maria snatched it with her neat placing.

PTI