Luksika Settles Score with Soylu for Back-to-Back Quarter-finals in Taiwan.
Red-hot Luksika Kumkhum made her back-to-back quarter-final appearances in the US$125,000 WTA Series in Taiwan following a straight set victory over Ipek Soylu of Turkey 6-2 6-4 on Thursday.
The 145 th ranked Luksika exploited a barrage of unforced errors from Soylu to win the second round match and at the same time staged a revenge for her 4-6 1-6 defeat to the Turk in Dalian earlier this year.
"I didn't change anything much from the last time we played. I was just prepared to run down all her shots and she just made mistakes," said Luksika from Chanthaburi. "The court in China was slow and the ball bounced highly. I didn't play well on that day. Here the condition is dfferent which suits my game."
Luksika was hot on her heels at start as she reeled off the first four games to lead 4-0 before dropping her own service game due to unforced errors to allow Soylu a digit on the scoreboard for the first time at 4-1.
Soylu went on to hold for the first time at 2-4 before she gave in to her nerves again. The 151st ranked player, after a brief rallies at 2-5 and 30-40, whipped an easy forehand wide to surrender the opener in just 30 minutes.
Luksika played a loose service game to drop her serves at 2-3 and then trailed 2-4. After several deuces of the eighth game, the Thai finally managed a crucial break to level at four all before dominating the rest of the match to win in just 77 minutes.
She will next take on ้home favourite Chang Kai-Chen who toppled Zhang Kai-Lin of China 6-2 6-1 in just 52 minutes in the quarter-finals on Friday.
