Noppawan, Zvonareva thrill

Teaming up with the former Pattaya Open champion for the first time, Noppawan produced her best result in the event, winning 6-1 2-6 10-6 at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel. 

Throughout the one hour and 14 minutes match, Zvonareva, who won back-to-back titles here in 2009 and 2010 and made two major finals at the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open, kept giving advice to the young Thai. 

“I learned a lot from her. She told me what to do and explained to me about the difference between the ball speed in the daytime and at night. It was a great experience,” said Noppawan, who paired up with Zvonareva by chance.

“She was given a wild card for the doubles but didn’t have a partner. Neither did I. She must have seen something good in me and decided to play with me. I was excited to play alongside her as she used to be No 2. She is a nice person and helped me to feel more relaxed on court,” added Noppawan, whose only WTA doubles final came in 2011 in Kuala Lumpur where she teamed up with Jessica Moore of the US.

After winning the first set, Noppawan and the Russian star broke for a 2-1 lead but then lost five games in a row. In the super tie-break, the pair regained their composure to clinch the match.

“We lost two advantage points, which affected our momentum in the second set. So before the super-tiebreak, Vera told me to be more aggressive. We returned well and hit well. We are happy to finally make it,” said Noppawan, who will next play either Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn and Olga Sanchuk of Ukraine or China’s Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai. 

“I hope I can play Tammy on Saturday [tomorrow]. It will be good for me and Thai tennis,” added the Thai No 2.

In the singles second round, 43-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan came back from a break down to beat Tadejia Majeric of Slovenia, 20 years younger, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 for a place in the quarter-finals. 

Date-Krumm rallied from a break down twice at 3-5 and 6-5 to force the first set tie-break against her 125th-ranked opponent. The Japanese got off to a quick start in the mini set to lead 4-1 before the Slovenian fought back to make it 4-4. But at a crucial juncture, Majeric served a double fault and trailed 4-6. Date-Krumm did not let slip the opportunity as she closed out the 47-minute opener with a forehand winner.

Majeric called for a trainer to treat her left thigh during the first changeover of the second set. After five consecutive breaks of serve, Date-Krumm held for the first time to lead 4-2. The former world No 4 consolidated that break and went on to win the match after one hour and 37 minutes. The Japanese world No 105 will face fourth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the final eight.

 

Murray teases Twitter fans

British tennis star Andy Murray kept his fans guessing yesterday after announcing on Twitter that he will marry girlfriend Kim Sears later this year, only to then backtrack.

The 26-year-old reigning Wimbledon champion was responding to questions on the micro-blogging website when one Twitter user, @saravana_24, asked, “When are you getting married?”

Murray replied: “We are getting married just after Wimbledon should be a great day.”

He later appeared to suggest that he had been joking, tweeting: “3 things.. I don’t smoke grass, I’m not getting married(yet) and I don’t want to kill rafael Nadal.”  

Murray and Sears, daughter of British tennis coach Nigel Sears, have been together since 2005 and she is a regular presence at his matches. The couple have previously dodged questions about whether they plan to wed.

This year’s Wimbledon runs from June 23 to July 6 and will see Murray attempt to defend the title he won for the first time last year, ending a 77-year wait for a British men’s singles champion at the tournament.