Luksika Wins Australian Wildcard
Thai No 1 Luksika Kumkhum earned a maindraw wildcard for the January’s Australian Open after she upset Chang Kai-Chen of Taiwan 6-4 6-3 in the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off tournament in China yesterday.
The 176 th ranked Thai took one hour and 31 minutes to stun the world No 131 opponent for a chance to compete in the opening Major of 2017 for the fourth time.
The former world No 85 said luck always on her side when it came to the Australia Open where she reached the second round twice in 2013 and 2014, her best results in a Major up to date.
“For some reasons, things seem to go my way in the Australian Open. I have good memories because I played my first maindraw in a Major there,” said Luksika who just went down to the Taiwanese in Taipei last month.
“Today Chen made so many errors. To be frank, I came here not expecting too much as I just wanted to give it a try. Even if I didn’t win a wildcard, I still can play the qualifying round in Melbourne.”
Luksika however was far from impressive in her overall performance in 2016. She hoped to have a great start in January.
“My ranking falls to 176 this year which was against my goal to finish in the top 100. I started the year well but failed to defend so many points at the second half of the year. So I hope I will have a good draw in the Australian Open so I can win a few rounds,” said Luksika who will start playing either in Shenzhen or Hong Kong in January.
