Kittipong fights back in Bangkok Open singles

The local wild-card holder had to cut a string of unforced errors before clearing his opening-round hurdle after one hour and 28 minutes. The 22-year-old only returned to training four weeks ago after time out with a back injury.

“It took me a while to settle down. I didn’t know what to do out there in the first set but luckily he ran out of gas in the second,” said Kittipong, who benefited from the withdrawal of his scheduled opponent, former junior world No 1 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary. 

“I’m lucky because it would have been a lot tougher if I had to play the other guy. I didn’t feel any pain today, which is a good sign,” added Kittipong, who next plays the winner of an all-Russian clash between Alexander Kudryavstev and Ivo Klec.

Four of Kittipong’s compatriots were eliminated in round one. Third seed Jimmy Wang of Taiwan outclassed local junior No 1 Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul 6-2 6-2, American qualifier Tyler Hochwalt picked off Chatanon Kaewsuto 6-1 6-4, South Korean Jeong Suk-yung eased past Warit Sornbutnark 6-2 6-2 and fifth-seeded Hiroki Moriya of Japan downed Phassawit Burapharitta 6-4 6-4. 

Thai No 1 Danai Udomchoke withdrew late from the singles, citing a health problem, but is still in the doubles with Japanese partner Toshihide Matsui. Danai’s singles place goes to Thai lucky-loser Punn Bodhidatta, who was to take on Matsui in the opening round.

All seeds survived the opening action, with favourite Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia rallying back from 2-5 down in the first set to beat South Korean Na Jung-woong 7-5 6-1, and last year’s runner up and fourth seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan advancing after beating Indian qualifier Karunday Singh 7-5 6-3.

Second-seeded Matthew Ebden of Australia defeated South Korean Nam Ji-sung 6-3 7-5, Japanese fourth seed Yuichi Sugita stemmed the run of Indian qualifier Karunuday Singh 7-5 6-3 and sixth-seeded Matthew Reid toppled qualifier Temur Ismailov of Uzbekistan 6-2 6-1. 

Elsewhere, Ti Chen of Taiwan needed three sets to move past South Korean Kim Cheong-eui 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1) and Japan’s Hiroki Kondo beat Australian Alex Bolt 6-2 7-6 (7-5).