Doubles pair help Thailand against China

After splitting the tie in the singles rubbers where Noppawan Lertcheewagarn beat Hao Chen Tang 6-2 5-7 6-3 and Nudnida Luangnam lost to Qiang Wang 6-4 6-2, Luksika and Varatchaya won the deciding match 6-3 4-6 7-5 against Hao and Zhou Yi-mao. The 2-1 victory over the mainland rivals saw the Kingdom take the third place again after beating Kazakhstan 2-1 in Nonthaburi two years ago.

“We have a solid team of good singles and doubles players who can replace each other at anytime. The overall performance is not bad as we came close to upsetting top seed Kazakhstan in the Group A stage,’’ said team captain Suang Chantra-urai.

“Luksika passed the test in flying colours in her Fed Cup debut. She was fantastic, especially when she upset world No 32 Yaroslava Shvedova of the host team. Noppawan and Varatchaya make a good doubles team though their defensive game needs to improve. Nudnida still has to work on her mental side. She missed easily points when under pressure,” Suang added.

While Noppawan headed for a Challenger event in India, the three-member team returned home this morning and will get ready to compete in the WTA Malaysian Open next week.

“I helped the team take the third place in my Fed Cup debut. It’s something I’m proud of. We all gave our best to beat China because we didn’t want to lose the third place play-off like last year,” said Luksika who won all three rubbers, two singles and one doubles, in the Fed Cup.

Meanwhile, host and top seed Kazakhstan beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in the Group I final to claim a berth to play in the World Group II Play-offs.