Danai falls by the wayside in Casablanca

[TENNIS] The 96th-ranked Danai Udomchoke blew away a 5-3 lead in the final set to lose to clay specialist Albert Montanes of Spain in the first round of the US$380,000 Grand Prix Hassan in Casablanca yesterday.
The Asian Games gold medallist, who lost his status as the country's No 1 player to Paradorn Srichaphan who surged to 82 this week, was serving for the match but dropped four straight games to hand a 1-6 6-3 7-5 victory to the Spaniard, No 77 in the world, after one hour and 40 minutes. Danai, who lost to Montanes 4-6 6-2 6-1 in a Challenger match in Ho Chi Min City in 2001, has just returned to the tour after a left knee injury kept him on the sidelines for a month. He will enter a clay court event in Portugal next week. Recovering from skin cancer, former champion Felix Mantilla made a winning start in his first ATP match in 18 months at his hometown Open Seat Godo in Barcelona, Spain on Monday. Mantilla, the 1999 champion using a wild-card entry, came back from a second-set dip to beat Uzbekistan qualifier Farrukh Dustov 6-4 1-6 6-0. The 32-year-old Mantilla was diagnosed with skin cancer in December 2005 and missed all of 2006. He qualified and won a round in a Challenger in Italy this month, but he hadn't played in an ATP main draw since the 2005 US Open. "This is special. I didn't expect it," he said. "My level of tennis right now is not too high and to play my first ATP event in 18 months and get a win is a surprise for me. I'm really pleased about that because it means I can still enjoy some more time playing tennis and that is what I want." Meanwhile, Wimbledon has announced record prize money will be handed out at this year's All England Club Championships. Prize money will be up nine per cent on last year with the men's and women's singles champions receiving £700,000 each. The total prize money fund for the two-week tournament from June 25-July 8 will be £11,282,710.
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