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Published on February 3, 2008

In her first tournament of the season, Montinee had sweet revenge over Japan's fifth-seeded Kumiko Ijima with a convincing 6-2 7-5 victory in the first round yesterday.

"I lost to her twice before. I just righted the wrong this time. I served well and played according to my game plan,'' said the 464th-ranked Montinee, who said she is fully fit now after being plagued with injuries last year.

"I had back and foot injuries. I was diagnosed that my left leg was longer than the right by a centimetre, which explained why I often injured my left foot because it had to carry more weight,'' she said.

She faces a second-round clash against Chinese Xu

Yi-fan. "She is left-handed

and hits the ball on the rise.

If I serve well like today, I'll stand a good chance," Montinee said.

SEA Games national player Nungnadda Wannasuk fought back from behind to upset world No 318 Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan 3-6 6-4 6-3. The No 461 player will play the winner of a match between top seed Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Lu Jing-jing of China in the second round.

The other successful Thai contender of the day was doubles expert Varatchaya Wongteanchai as she ousted Chinese wildcard holder Liu Wan-ting 6-0 7-5.

But juniors Kanyapat Narattana and Sophia Mulsap did not enjoy the same luck as their countrywomen. Kanyapat fell to third-seeded Junri Namigata of Japan 6-1 6-3 while Sophia went down to Hwang I-Hsuan of Taiwan

7-6 (7-9) 6-4.

According to the main -draw, Thai No 1 Tamarine Tanasugarn will play Russian Anastasia Rodionova, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn will face Angelique Kerber of Germany while Nudnida Luangnam will take on a qualifier.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation