Pillai, Kamani enter Australian Open snooker semifinals

India's Vidya Pillai and Amee Kamani today entered the semifinals of the Australian Open women's snooker tournament after getting the better of their respective opponents, here.
The 2010 champion, Pillai outplayed Kathy Howden 3-0 in the quarterfinals, while Kamani defeated compatriot Suniti Damani with an identical scoreline in her last eight match.
Both Kamani and Damani are playing their first international tournaments outside the country.
Pillai and Kamani topped their respective groups pocketing all their five matches, while Damani was second in her group after winning three.
The other two semifinalists are local players -- Jennifer Budd and Jessica Woods.

Earlier in the pre-quarterfinals, Pillai, who made the tournament's highest break so far of 58, had an easy outing as she beat Lyndal Ellement 2-0.
Kamani had blanked Carlie Tait 2-0 and Damani beat Theresa Whitten 2-1 to set a quarterfinal clash against each other.