Peerakiat shoots down impatient teen Wishaya

The Davis Cup player relied on his experience to tame the impatient teenager 6-2 7-5 (7-5) in the final of the wildcard challenge at the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand courts. The competition was divided into two pools of eight players each with the top player of each pool entering the final.

“We play a similar game and that suited me. He serves big and goes for his shots. I just had to hang out there and put the ball back,” said the 23-year-old Peerakiat, who is a student at Bangkok University. 

“You just have to stay focussed while playing younger rivals as they tend to show their emotions on court. But I think he behaved better today compared to the previous rounds,” added Peerakiat, who will be playing his second ATP event since the 2007 Thailand Open, where he went down to Germany’s Simon Stadler 6-1 6-2 in the first round. 

With support from the LTAT and his studies falling in place, Peerakiat said he could focus on tennis again. He plans to play next week’s Challenger event in Bangkok and six more Future events, but the Thailand Open is his major concern.

“If luck is on my side and I don’t have a tough draw, I hope I can win the first round. It would help me a lot psychologically.” 

Meanwhile, Tamarine Tanasugarn moved into the second round of the US Open qualifying after her opponent Sarah Gronert of Germany retired at 6-1 on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old Thai cruised through the opener in 30 minutes before her opponent called it a day, citing injury. Tamarine, the only Thai left in the qualifier of the major, was due to take on third-seeded Jana Cepelova, the 19-year-old from the Slovak Republic. 

 

Roddick crashes out 

 

American Andy Roddick suffered a third-round loss yesterday at the $550,000 ATP Tour’s Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina, losing in straight sets to Belgium’s Steve Darcis.

Darcis, who made it to the third round of the London Olympics, outlasted fifth-seeded Roddick in a pair of tie-break sets, 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (7/3) at the Wake Forest University facility. The 28-year-old Darcis, who is ranked 81st in the world, was the last player to make the cut for the main draw.“I didn’t expect this when I came here; I wasn’t playing well,” said Darcis. “Of course, it is a good win before the US Open.”