Noppawan survives Japanese challenge to reach semis in Mildaru
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn survived over three hour marathon battle with Ayano Shimizu of Japan to reach the semi-final of the US$25,000 Australian ITF Women’s Circuit in Mildaru on Friday.
Playing on her favourite grass surface, the former Wimbledon junior champion beat the consistent rival by the skin of her teeth 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 in the tussles that last three hours and 17 minutes.
“I was so tired but I tried to hang in there until the end,” said the 25-year-old who also had a three setter on Thursday.
“I was serving well and returning well to attack her game in the first set. But at 2-0 in the second, I was playing too much defensive game and she took the opportunity to dictate play. She was also playing aggressively in the tie-break,” added Noppawan who reached her first semi-finals since Pune last December.
“In the final set, there were so man deuces. I just had one break and capitalized on it well,” said Noppawan who will receive her BA degree in Mass Communication from Bangkok University next month. She said she could fully focus on her tennis after the final exam earlier this year.
“It’s such a huge relief to finally graduate after four and a half years. Now that I have no more classes to worry about, I can entirely commit to my career.”
Noppawan will play Katie Boulter of Great Britain, a 6-2 6-2 winner over Gabriella Taylor from the same country.
“She is tall and has big serves. I have to take the initiative and give her no rhythm,” Noppawan said.
In Japan, Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul beat Japanese Renta Tokuda 6-4 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the US$15,000 Asia Univ. Int'l Men's Open Tennis 2017 at the Asia University Hinode Campus on Friday.
