Marathon victory in Hua Hin

The World University gold medallist squandered several match points in the second set at 5-4 and in the tie-break but recovered to dominate the decisive set in 
an epic, rain-delayed tie that lasted more than three hours.

“It was such a long match. My opponent and I were playing well. It’ wa a good battle between us," said Varatchaya.

"Even though I missed four match points in the second set, I still believed I could control the game and come back to win the third. I tried to play my style and move the opponent around. I did not feel under pressure at all."

Former world No 7 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland powered past Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 6-2 6-1.

The 20-year-old who plummeted outside the top 100 for the first time earlier this year due to injuries displayed aggressive groundstrokes to dominate play against the 376^th ranked Olmos before winning her match in just 54 minutes.

“It’s tricky to play the first match. It’s quite windy so I have to get used to that during the practice. I feel pretty good to have a lot of people coming to support me here,” said the 165^th ranked Bencic who had a dozen of foreign fans cheering from the courtside.

This is the third for the Swiss in the Kingdom after a visit with her parents at the age of two and the participation in the 2014 Pattaya Open where she did not survive the qualifying stage. The Hua Hin event is her fourth comeback tournament after she took an injury break between April and early September.

“My goal is to get back to the top 100 again. I’m really working for that. Also I need to stay healthy. But the most important thing is to enjoy tennis as much as I can which was something I just realized during the injury (break),” said Bencic who won a US$100,000 ITF event in her first comeback tournament in Saint Petersburg in the third week of September.

Rain delayed start for almost half an hour due to drizzles but it didn’t bother two seeded players including second seed world No 83 Evgeniya Rodina of Russia who came back from a mid match lapse to beat Uzbek rising star  Sabina Sharipova 6-4 3-6 6-4. Sixth seed Ana Bogdan of Romania, No 115, outclassed local wildcard holder  Chompoothip Jandakate 6-1 6-2.

Qualifier Veronika Kudermetova of Russia  had no problem eliminating Jasmine Paolini of Italy  6-1 6-4.

Thai No 1 Luksika Kumkhum also join Varatchaya in round two after she beat  qualifier  Fanny Stollar of Hungary at press time 6-1 6-4.

Meanwhile Thai No 2 Peangtarn Plipuech crashed out in the first round on Monday after she was outplayed by Barbara Haas of Austria 4-2 2-6.