In the semi-finals, Varsha will be up against Judith Walia, the second seed and runners-up at the last nationals. Earlier in the day in the pre-quarters, Judith beat the defending champion Heena Khandelwal in three frames 41-19, 12-55, 40-31. Later in the evening she scored a hard-fought win over Amrita Mohapatra of Orissa. Judith won 50-57, 49-10, 49-36, 55-32.

The second semi-final tomorrow morning will be contested between Neeta Sanghvi and Karnataka's Farah Khan. Farah accounted for Meenal Bairagi, sister of Anuja Thakur, while Neeta beat Pooja Galundia. Farah won 55-30, 56-50, 69-27 while Neeta beat Pooja 39-27, 45-43, 52-44.

Most frames lasted close to 45 minutes each, and there were hardly any breaks of 30 or 40. But conditions at the Nationals being held in a cold and damp hall, normally used for badminton in the IIT Campus, are hardly the kind any national meet should be held in. Most of the women players coming from states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka were not used to such low temperatures and some were literally shivering and rushing to the heaters placed close by after virtually every visit to the table, some of them lasting barely a minute.