Kittipong tunes up with doubles win

The victory over the wild-card pair was a good warm-up for the country’s No 2 Kittipong who will open his singles campaign as a wild-card against 23-year-old Australian John Millman.

The Challenger tournament kicked off yesterday with the doubles competition, while singles qualifying took place in the background. Thai fortunes took a downswing when Kirati Siributwong and Peerakiat Siriluethaiwattana went down to Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan of India 2-6 3-6.

Wild-card Peerakiat now faces a tough singles hurdle against top seed and world No 110 Dudi Sela of Israel, though it should be a good warm-up for his campaign next month at the Thailand Open.

Daunting first-round matches also await the other two Thai wild cards. Warit Sornbutnark takes on Briton seventh seed James Ward, and Kong Pop Lertchai faces Australian rising star Matt Reid.

Thai No 1 Danai Udomchoke, whose wife Charinthorn is expecting their first baby, is seeded second and will play China’s Gong Mao-xin.

In the final singles qualifiers, top seed Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia beat New Zealand’s Artem Sitak 6-4 6-3, Harel Srugo of Israel upset second-seeded Jaan-Frederik Brunken of Germany 6-4 6-3, third-seeded Kento Takeuchi of Japan outlasted Lim Yong-kyu of South Korea 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 and fourth-seeded Lee Hsin-han of Taiwan beat Nam Ji-sung of South Korea 7-5 4-6 6-1.