The 15-year-old dark-horse relied on her fierce double-fisted groundstrokes to keep last year's quarter-finalist at bay before advancing 6-4 6-2, becoming the first local to book a spot in the main draw through the qualifying competition.  "This is unbelievable. I didn't expect to make it to the main draw. I am in a WTA tournament for the first time and the feeling is great. I'm playing the best tennis of my life at the moment," said Noppawan, who practised with Czink last year and came into the match with a clear game plan.

"I kept hitting the balls to her backhand and stayed aggressive all the time. I played as if I had nothing to lose and it paid off," the youngster said.

Ranked as low as 895, Noppawan has sent some of the known names packing, including Indian Shikha Uberoi and Chan Chin-wei of Taiwan on her way to the main draw. She takes on Japanese fifth-seed Akiko Nakamura, who also has a similar style of hitting with two hands from both sides, in the first round at 2.30pm today.

"We both have two-handed groundstrokes, so it's going to be an interesting match. I will stick to my game plan," said Noppawan, who hails from Chiang Mai.

In the opening round of the main draw, three seeded players lived up to their billings by moving into the second round.

Third-seeded Italian Mara Santangelo, who lost in the second round last year, recovered from a second set lapse to beat Slovak Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4 5-7 6-2.

In the contest between two double-fisted players, fourth-seeded Peng Shuai of China, one of the three mainlanders in the world top 50, dismantled Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei 6-1 6-2.

Indian fifth-seed Sania Mirza, who suffered a disappointing second round defeat in the Australian Open, employed her trademark booming groundstrokes to subdue Catalina Castano of Colombia 7-6 (7-1) 6-0. She will await the winner of the match between Tamarine Tanasugarn and Taiwanese Chan Yung-jan in round two. The match between the two is the highlight of today's matches and is scheduled for about 8pm.

Former world No 8 Alicia Molik of Australia had no problem tackling Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine and won 6-2 6-2. The Aussie stayed on track in her comeback campaign after ear infection kept her on the sidelines for a year.

"My forehand went very well today. It won me a lot of points. If I can keep up with such play, I don't have to worry who is my next opponent," said Molik who will play either sixth-seeded Gisela Sulko of Argentina or Sun Tian-tian of China in round two.

In another first round match, Montinee Tangphong squandered a 3-1 lead in both sets before going down to Russian Anastassia Rodionova 5-7 6-7 (4-7).

Meanwhile in the other final qualifying matches, third-seeded Tzipora Obziler of Israel dashed the hopes of Nudnida Luangnam 7-6 (7-0) 6-1, fourth-seeded Yuan Meng of China eliminated sixth-seeded Sophie Ferguson of Australia 6-2 6-4 and seventh-seeded Andreja Klepac of Slovenia ousted Chinese Sun Shen-nan 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation