Kolkata, Sep 22 (IANS) Olga Poutchkova and Iroda Tulyaganova set up a semi-final clash in the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open with easy wins in their matches Friday.

Olga brushed aside Italian Alberta Brianti 7-5, 6-3 to become the first player to reach the semifinals and Iroda set up a date with her beating Alla Kudryavtseva 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in another match.

The Russian appeared rusty to begin with and faced with some raw power from the stocky Italian. Brianti started on a promising note, winning the first three games of the first set going up 3-0 with two breaks. But Poutchkova came back strongly.

The 10th game was a huge one for Poutchkova. With both players operating from the baseline, the Russian, who came up from 198th spot in 2005 to top 100 this year, set up the break point with deep forehands into the far court.

She smashed an easy lob to get her break back and held serve in the next to nose ahead for the first time in the match. In the 12th game Brianti was broken again as Olga took the set in 44 minutes.

The second set was similar, but the game went out of Brianti's reach once Poutchkova broke her in the sixth game and got her two breaks back. It was a huge mental blow for Brianti. The Russian then won the next three to wrap up the match in just under one-and-half hours.

Meanwhile, former World no 17 Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan saw off the challenge from Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to set up a semifinal meeting with Poutchkova.

Meanwhile, Shikha Uberoi's outing at the $175,000 Kolkata meet came to an end Friday as her partner Meldina Czink of Hungary, down with viral illness, conceded the match to Yulia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak, after the Ukrainian pair had clinched the first set 6-3.