Police cadet Danai aiming to shackle Frenchman Millow

Occupied by intensive training under strict rules at the police academy, the 154th ranked Danai concedes he is not in top condition for the Melbourne tournament but is desperate to enter the year’s first major.

“My body is okay. There are no injuries. But I need more tennis preparation to play at this level. Now I just hope that I can win the first match. Frankly speaking, I haven’t prepared well, due to my training at the police academy,” said the 31-year-old Thai, who will enter the doubles main draw with team-mate Jimmy Wang of Taiwan.

“I’m not allowed to practise tennis much at the police camp. I only hit three days a week, around two and a half hours per day. But a win [today] would boost my confidence. I need to play aggressive tennis. I need to put fear out of my mind and just go for my shots,” added Danai, who will be facing the Frenchman for the first time.

“He’s a lefty and a baseline player. I need to play aggressive tennis and make him run as much as possible. However, with my lack of conditioning it’s going to be tough to control the ball.”

Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana, who reached the Chennai Open semi-finals last week, are also in the doubles main draw.

On the women’s side, Tamarine Tanasugarn, world No 150, Luksika Kumkhum (No 201) and Nudnida Luangnam (No 205) form the Thai trio in action in singles qualifying. The draw will be made today. In the doubles Tammy will go straight into the main draw alongside Poland’s Alicia Rosolka.

 

Radwanska streaks on

Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska stretched her winning streak to six matches with a straight sets victory over Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in brutal heat at the Sydney International yesterday.

As temperatures soared above 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), the tournament top seed overcame an early break before wearing down 42-year-old Date-Krumm, winning 6-4 6-3 in 70 minutes.

Radwanska, 23, went into the Sydney event immediately off the back of a win in Auckland without dropping a set, and is in great form heading into next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

“So far I feel fine. I don’t have any problems and it’s [the] beginning of the year,” said Radwanska, who next plays Italian Roberta Vinci. Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki went down in a titanic duel with former French and US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7/4) 1-6 6-2.