The semi-finals took place on Saturday, with a few upsets regarding seeded players. Disappointingly, the fourth seed, Australia’s Christina Wheeler, lost her quarter-final match to Romanian, Agnes Szatmari in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.

Marinne Giraud from Mauritius, seeded seventh, lost against Australian, Shannon Golds, 7-6 6-1, with the first set going to a tiebreaker.

Chinese player, Yi-Miao Zhou, had no easy road to the final as she took on Japan’s Chiaki Okadaue, but Zhou won the match convincingly, 6-3 6-2.

In round two, Zhou faced a formidable opponent in Taipei’s Kai-Chen Chang who beat sixth seed, Anna Floris from Italy in a gruelling match that saw Chang win the tiebreak in the third set, 6-2 0-6 7-6.

When the two Asian powerhouses met, Chang seemed to have the upper hand as she took the first set. But Zhou only needed to warm up before taking the match to Chang and winning in three sets, 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Second seed, Melanie South from Great Britain, had little trouble progressing to the quarter-final round as she beat Australian, Nicole Kriz, 6-2 6-3, as well as China’s Shaozhuo Liu, 6-3 6-2.

But South’s run came to an end when she faced an in-form Yi-Miao Zhou and the match only lasted two sets.

The match did not go South’s way, as Zhou took the first set. South fought back hard in the second set to force a tie-break, but Zhou had the upper hand throughout the match which ended 6-3 7-6.

The final four players were New Zealander Ellen Barry, Romanian Agnes Szatmari, Australian Shannon Golds and China’s Yi-Miao Zhou.

Barry played Szatmari in her semi-final match that went straight to a tiebreak in the first set, ending in Barry’s favour. Barry won the second set convincingly, end result 7-6 6-0.

Golds was sent packing by Zhou in their semi-final encounter which ended 6-0 7-5, Golds got into the match a little late.

On Saturday, Barry and Zhou walked onto the courts hoping to lift the trophy. Umpire for the match was Jenny Brougham from Melbourne and the referee was Kane Lillywhite of the International Tennis Federation.

The match got off to a quick start as Barry took the first serve. In the third game, Zhou broke Barry’s serve to lead the first set 2-1.

The fourth game in the set was a nail-biter as the score was returned to deuce five times, Zhou finally scoring the game after her fourth advantage. The girls played hard and finished the first set in Zhou’s favour, 7-5.

Barry almost seemed to give up in the second set with many unforced errors allowing Zhou to take the lead early. Zhou won the match with little difficulty, 7-5 6-2.

The Chinese doubles pair of Yi-Miao Zhou and Ting Li defeated third-seeded Japanese Natsumi Hamamura and Remi Tezuka in an all out Asian affair.

The Chinese duo took the first set easily, but faced hard tennis in the second as the Japanese challengers played better tennis. Tied at one set each, a tiebreak determined the winners. The Chinese pair won the match, 6-1 4-6 and 10-8 in the tiebreak.

Louw Smith, general manager of St Ives, was on hand to award the players their trophies.