Tennis team beat hosts Indonesia to gold
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Thailand's women subdued arch-rivals Indonesia for the third successive time in the SEA Games women's tennis team final, with Nungnadda Wannasuk and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn scoring singles wins yesterday.
Despite the absence of their No 1 Tamarine Tanasugarn, who opted to focus on the pro circuit, the Thai team, which also includes Varatchaya Wongteanchai and Nicha Lertpitaksinchai, defended a streak that stretches back to the Games’ 24th edition in Nakhon Ratchasima.
Young Nungnadda, ranked 427 in the world, got Thailand off to a great start, defeating the 467th-ranked Lavinia Tananta 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 for a 1-0 lead. Then, former junior world No 1 Noppawan, (No 185), kept her composure to battle past an inspired Ayu Fani Damayanti, world No 225, in a topsy-turvy three-setter.
After splitting the first two sets, Noppawan managed a double break in the decider to gain the upper hand at 3-0, before Amanyati, motivated by a noisy home crowd, fought back to 2-3.
Noppawan was on the threshold of victory several times at 5-3 and 5-4 but the die-hard Damayanti came up with huge shots to get off the hook. The Indonesian finally lured Noppawan into errors and broke for five-all to send the Indonesian crowd into wild raptures.
But the Thai was on fire to break her rival and go up again at 6-5. She comfortably held the next game before closing out the match in anticlimactic fashion when Damayanti half-heartedly returned a serve at 40-15, wrongly assuming it had been called out. The match ended 2-6 6-3 7-5.
