Nudnida and Noppawan excel
[TENNIS] Teenage stars Nudnida Luangnam and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn extended their astonishing run in the qualifiers of the US$170,000 Pattaya Women's Open, upsetting two seeded players in the second round at the Dusit Resort Hotel yesterday.
The 19-year-old Nudnida was engaged in a stiff battle with American eighth seed, Carly Gullickson, before prevailing 7-5 4-6 6-4, while 15-year-old Noppawan effortlessly tackled Taiwanese fifth seed Chan Chin-wei and won 6-1 6-4. Playing in her second WTA tournament after the 2006 Bangkok Open, where she crashed out in the first qualifying match, Noppawan quickly got into action, hammering a barrage of winners to establish a 5-0 lead in the opening set before suffering a hiccup in the middle of the second. "I went for my shots and forced her into errors in the first set. But she started playing a bit better in the second set and I had to pull myself up to close out the match,'' said Noppawan, who hails from Chiang Mai and entered the event expecting to win only one match. "I've gone beyond my initial expectations. Obviously the hard work and weight training is paying off,'' said the teenager, who admitted that senior pro Napaporn Tongsalee had given her tips on playing the Taiwanese rival. "I was told her backhand is good so I hit the balls to her forehand. It worked well. I didn't let her get momentum,'' added Noppawan who must defeat top seed Melinda Czink of Hungary for a berth in the main draw. "She serves well and hits the balls flat. I must play an attacking game. I have nothing to lose,'' said Noppa-wan, who is coached by ex-national player Sombat Eummongkol. In the other matches, Czink toppled Uzbek Agkul Amanmuradova 6-2 6-4. Second-seeded Erika Takao of Japan moved past Kazak Amina Rakhim 7-5 6-1, third-seeded Tzipora Obziler of Israel cruised past Chinese Ren Jing 7-5 6-1, fourth-seeded Yuan Meng of China dispatched American Neha Uberoi 6-1 6-2 and sixth-seeded Sophie Ferguson of Australia eliminated Yurika Sema of Japan 6-3 6-4. The first round matches of the main draw starts today. Thai Montinee Tangphong will play Russian Anastasia Rodionova, Australian Alicia Molik faces Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukriane and fifth-seeded Sania Mirza of India confronts Catalina Castano of Colombia.
Lerpong Amsa-ngiam The Nation
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