Published on July 16, 2005

‘Ball’ wins as Danai lets it slip through / Paradorn Srichaphan lifted sagging Thai spirits by defeating Goichi Motomura and split the tie 1-1 with hosts Japan in the Davis Cup Zone Asia-Oceania Group I play-offs yesterday.

The day started off badly for Thailand as Danai Udomchoke blew away three match points against Takao Suzuki and lost the first rubber. The Thai No 2 had a 2-1 set lead and was on top at 5-4 in the fourth set over the Japanese No 1.

Summoning inexhaustible energy and playing serve and volley, the Japanese, with his back to the wall, turned the situation around to win the match 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 1-6 7-5 6-4 in three hours and 37 minutes.

Paradorn saved the day for the Kingdom by overpowering veteran Motomura with his explosive serves and heavy groundstrokes to win 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 in two hours and five minutes. The Japanese 30-year-old, who was made to run hither and thither, collapsed a few times and developed cramps in the third set chasing the ball from the Thai.

“I’m quite happy to have played well in my first match since Wimbledon. It was good tennis, and it was quite entertaining for the fans,” said Paradorn, who has the heavy task of winning the rubber against Suzuki tomorrow.

“This surface suits his game. I expect a tough match against him, because he has a lot of energy and will try hard with the crowd behind him. I just have to keep the first-serve percentage high, return well and pin him to the baseline,” said Paradorn, adding that he always played well in Japan because he felt perfectly at home.

Danai was in great form and did nothing wrong. In fact Suzuki brought out his best, and Danai found his serve-and-volley game hard to tackle.

“I’m sorry. It must be tough for the fans back home. I just could not win the match when I had three match points. He served so well, and I could do nothing. I tried my best,” said a disheartened Danai.

“I tried hard to forget that I had match points, but I could not stop thinking about it. Suzuki hit many unbelievable drop volleys, and all credit to him for that,” said Danai, who applauded his rival after one such amazing volley.

The 29-year-old Suzuki thanked the 1,000-strong fans for rooting for him when he was on the threshold of defeat.

“The crowd really pushed me to play my best out here. I was surprised that I won the match. I tried slicing the balls, volleyed and moved to the net when Danai gave me short balls,” said the 169th-ranked Suzuki.

Danai and Suzuki proved highly solid in their service games as they extended the first set to a tie-break. Danai had three set points but needed the third one to land the set in controversial circumstances. A lineman called a serve fault and then corrected it, which earned the Thai the set 7-6 (7-5) while Suzuki disagreed and protested to the chair umpire.

The Thai played a loose game at 4-5 in the second set, which gave the Japanese triple set points at 0-40. Suzuki won the set 6-4 with a brilliant smash.

Danai was unstoppable in the third set, hitting a series of brilliant passing shots to unsettle Suzuki, and won the third set 6-1 in just 25 minutes. He continued his rich vein of form into the fourth set, passing the Japanese with a forehand winner to break for 4-2, and then served an ace to go up 5-2.

He reached his first two match points at 5-4 and 40-15, but Suzuki fired well-placed serves to stave off defeat and saved the third match point with an overhead smash. Pumping himself up, Suzuki stuck to his game plan by pressuring at the net. His stinging volleys and sharp serves gave him the set at 7-5, which brought the fans to life.

Danai appeared to have a problem with his back as an inspired Suzuki attacked him at the neet. The Japanese managed a break in the third game, which was enough to gain victory.

Today Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana will play Satoshi Iwabuchi and Suzuki in the doubles rubber at 11am Bangkok time.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation

Osaka, Japan

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