Last Thailand pairing bows out at Phuket Open
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Top seeds and home favourites Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee found world No 5 Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Maria Antonelli too strong in the last 16 of the Phuket Thailand Open beach volleyball tournament at Karon Beach yesterday.
Their 21-8 21-17 loss ended the Thai challenge in the six-day tournament at the knockout stage but left them joint ninth and with $4,000 in prize money – the best Thai result in Phuket Thailand Open history.
“We did not play well in the first set. We got better in the second set after we started communicating more about our problems,” said Tanarattha.
“We gained a lot of experience competing against the world’s leading players here. We matched them, and I hope we will come back stronger next time. After this tournament, we leave for China for the Asian Championship,” added team-mate Varapatsorn.
In the morning’s first knockout round, the Thai duo fought hard to conquer tough Mexicans Candelas Bibiana and Martha Revuelta 21-14 25-23.
Meanwhile, the world No 3 Salgado sisters, Maria and Carolina Clara proved their victory at the Moscow Grand Slam in August was no fluke. The fourth seeds outclassed Italians Gioria Daniela and Laura Giombini 21-18 21-17 in the morning clash to win a rematch of the Moscow final against world No 4 Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany.
Qualifiers and 24th seeds Yue Yuan and Ma Yuanyuan from China pulled off a shock 29-27 23-21 win against Americans sixth seeds Brooke Sweat and Jennifer Kessy, who last year partnered April Ross to capture the Bangsaen Thailand Open title, in a hotly-contested morning battle.
Yue and Ma today go up against 11th seeds Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi in an all-Chinese quarter-final. The Xue-Xia tandem yesterday came from behind to beat Italian seventh seeds Marta Menagalti and Viktoria Orsi Toth 18-21 21-15 15-11 in the afternoon second-round knockout match.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals continue today.
