Chompoothip Stuns Third Seed in Hua Hin.
Wildcard holder Chompoothip Jandakate staged the biggest upset of her career by stunning third seed Mizuno Kijima of Japan 7-6 (7-5) 0-6 6-4 in the first round of the US$10,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Pro Circuit 5 at True Arena Hua Hin yesterday.
The former national junior champion under 18, despite her up-and-down play, summoned her best tennis when she needed it most to break the 509 th ranked opponent in the final game to seal off the deal in two hours and 22 minutes.
“After the first set, I felt less excited and a bit relaxed and she jumped at the opportunity,” said the laws student from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University. “I tend to be more focused if I feel excited or under pressure. So in the third set I motivated myself more. There were so many breaks in the last set but I knew I could win the match as I beat her before when she was ranked outside the top 800 last year.”
In fact this was Chompoothip’s second ITF match win this year. After failing to win an ITF maindraw match in six attempts, she finally broke the ice last week by defeating Michika Ozeki of Japan 6-4 6-3 in the first round before falling to the eventual champion Natela Dzalamidze of Russia 3-6 4-6 in round two.
The Nonthaburi-based from then on emphasized on physical training under the coaching of Yosapon Prommon and Jutidech Uthapakdee ahead of the circuit 4. It paid dividends.
“When I feel physically stronger, I feel more confident on court. I have been playing well these two weeks and I intend to keep on this way,” said Chompoothip who will play Indonesian national player Jessy Ropies a surprise 7-5 6-2 winner over Varunya Wongteanchai.
“Jessy is a single handed player. She plays similar game like the men by using a lot of slices and mixing up the pace. I have to be really focused tomorrow.”
Last week’s finalist Nudnida Luangnam also moved into the round of 16 with a 6-3 6-2 win over Kim Dabin of South Korea. Tamachan Momkoonthod dropped just one game in beating Minami Akiyama of Japan to join the two compatriots in the next stage.
Fourth seed Kamonwan Buayam was the other seed causality of the day as she was forced to retire with knee injury at 6-4 3-6 1-2 against Cambodian Andrea Ka, a San Francisco University graduate.
So-ra of South Korea, Natalija Kostic of Serbia and Zhang Ling of China, seeded fifth, sixth and eighth respectively were all safe to the next round as well.
Two Uzbek Komola Umarova and Arina Folts plus a German teenager Vivian Wolff also moved on.
