Hot Danai aims higher

Local No 2 Danai Udomchoke hopes to produce another upset result in the US$644,000 PTT Thailand Open as he takes on German Matthias Bachinger today at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.
The unfancied local ace stunned world No 39 Fabio Foginin of Italy yesterday in his first match back after resting his injured shoulder for a month.
But the 30-year-old Thai has further ambitions for what is almost certainly his last Thailand Open appearance, following his announcement that he will retire from the game at the end of 2012. He is eyeing a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP event to go with his only other last-eight appearance, in Beijing five years ago.
“I have prepared really well for this tournament for three weeks because it could be my last. I want to retire next year and don’t know if I can last the whole season. That’s why I really want to give my best this year,” said Danai, who showed no signs of the shoulder trouble that kept him out of action for almost a month.
Perhaps his change of fortunes has something to do with the magic spell he got from a monk seven days ago. Danai admitted he is superstitious and recites the incantation every day for luck. However he said that magic alone would not be enough to progress in the tournament.
“It takes more than that. The spell is something good for the mind but it stills comes down to physical fitness and hard work,” said Danai who next plays Bachinger of Germany, a 7-5 6-4 winner over Greg Jones of Australia 7-5 6-4. The match will be broadcast live at noon on Channel 3.
The two have played each other twice before in Challenger events and have a 1-1 record in head-to-head meetings. Danai won the first match in Seoul 2008 before the German returned the favour earlier this year in China.
“He is an aggressive player and I lost to him this year because I didn’t play the way I should have. I have to stick to my game plan and hope for the best,” said the 212th ranked Thai.
While Danai is still in the running, doubles pairing Sonchat Ratiwatana and Weerapat Doakmaiklee are already out. They went down to Santiago Giraldo of Colombia and Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4).
Elsewhere, last year’s finalist Jarkko Nieminen of Finland survived a scare from Austrian young gun Dominic Thiem to win through 6-1 4-6 7-5. The Finn, who lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the title match 12 months ago, was two points away from defeat at 4-5, 15-30 in the deciding set but relied on his experience to edge out the 18-year-old junior Roland Garros finalist despite having a sore throat. “I just tried to stay solid and moved my legs. I did the right things in those points. I tried to play smart, not too aggressive or passive. Just made him get those points,” said the world No 50 who had been lying in bed for three days.
In other first-round matches, Michael Berrer of Germany downed Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 and Simone Boletti of Italy beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5).

Kvitova through
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Mandy Minella of Luxembourg at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament yesterday to stay on course for a potential quarter-final match against Maria Sharapova.
The 21-year-old Czech fifth seed, who defeated Sharapova in the final at the All England Lawn Tennis Club to win her first Grand Slam title in July, coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 victory to reach the third round.
Although Kvitova was on court for 65 minutes, she said she was still some way off her best form.
“My left-handed serve, it’s great. They [my opponents] have a problem sometimes,” said Kvitova.
“But I must improve my serve, because sometimes I have many double faults and not many per centage of first serves. I have still more to improve,” she added.
Before a possible match-up with Sharapova, Kvitova must beat American Vania King, the winner over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4 7-6 (8/6).