The crowd of about 1,500 at the Rama Gardens Hotel's courts were given a treat when the Thai No 2 stunned her error-prone rival 6-4 6-4 to improve her solid Fed Cup record since 2004 to nine wins from 10 matches.

But Thai fans stopped celebrating when world No 15 Nicole Vaidisova struck back for the Czech team by demolishing the hapless Monthinee Tangphong 6-0 6-2 in only 67 minutes to level the tie.

The first day's results were beyond expectations for the Thai team as there was wide speculation that the Czechs would win all five rubbers with the local team missing ace player Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Thai captain Vittaya Samrej, however, was not surprised his team took one point from the star-studded Czech squad.

"If my team can play at the top of their game, anything can happen," he said. "Last night I told Suchanan what kind of game she should play against a left-hander. And she did a good job,'' added the former national champion, who believes Thailand might get another point from today's matches.

Despite her ranking of 192nd in the world, Suchanan again proved she could keep top 100 opponents at bay in Fed Cup play. She has beaten three top 100 rivals in Fed Cup matches - Australian Nicole Pratt and Croatian Sandra Mamic were her other victims before Benesova.

"I was surprised to win the match because I went out there not expecting anything, but playing at my normal level. I didn't want to put myself under pressure by being too concerned with the result,'' said Suchanan.

"I just couldn't play too much on the defence because it would have been easy for her to attack. I'd rather make errors going for my shots than giving her the opportunity to attack me,'' added Suchanan, who is after revenge against Vaidisova today in the reverse singles. She was overpowered 6-3 6-1 by her Czech rival in the Thailand Open last year.

"I will not let her do all the attacking like last time. She will hit hard but I will return shots that won't make it easy for her,'' the Thai said of her game plan for today.

Benesova, whose career highlights include an upset victory over Mary Pierce in this year's Australian Open, was not at her best yesterday.

"This match was different for me because I played for my country and I put pressure on myself. I made so many errors and did not feel the ball at all. It was a bad day,'' said the pretty Czech.

In the other match yesterday, Vaidisova bombarded Monthinee with a series of heavy shots and big serves. She has a perfect 6-0 record at the venue dating back to last October's Thailand Open, which she won.

"I had more pressure coming into the match after my team lost the first point," she said. "But I played my game and had the rhythm throughout the match. Everything went well for me,'' added the Czech, who will seek a birthday present when she plays Suchanan today at 3pm in the reverse singles, which can be seen live on UBC SuperSport Action.

Monthinee gave all she had against her heavyweight rival, but was outclassed. She usually plays at the challenger level and now realises what it is like at the elite level.

"She hit very hard and played very fast. If she had her first serve in, I had no chance. This is what you will never see in challenger events,'' said Monthinee when asked what she learned from the match.

Today's programme will start with Suchanan versus Vaidisova, followed by the Monthinee-Benesova rubber. The tie will end with the doubles with Napaporn Tongsalee and Nudnida Luangnam playing Klara Koukalova and Barbora Strycova.

Danai into final

n Meanwhile, Thai men's No 2 Danai Udomchoke sailed through the final round after Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu retired during the third set in their semi-final at the $US25,000 Coffee Cup Challenger tournament in India earlier yesterday.

The 24 year-old Thai took a step closure to his first title when Lu could not finish the match after injuring his shoulder during the third set when the score was tied at 2-2. The second-seeded Thai advanced to the final and will play Japan's Toshihide Matsui today.

In the men's doubles, Danai teamed up with Lu to beat countrymen Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana in the all-Thai final.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation