Zvonareva, Tammy open Pattaya campaigns
Four Thais open their campaigns at the US$220,000 PTT Pattaya Open today, with the clash between veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan the pick of the bunch.
The 34-year-old Tamarine, finalist in 1995 and 2009, will spearhead three wild-card entrants, Noppawan Lertcheewagarn, Nicha Lertpithaksinchai and Nungnadda Wannasuk, who go up against high-calibre opponents.
World No 8 and top seed Vera Zvonareva, the 2009-2010 Pattaya champion, takes centre stage at 2pm today on Court No 1, where she’s up against a qualifier. Following that will be the eye-catching clash between Tamarine and sixth-seeded Voskoboeva, who toppled the Thai in their Fed Cup rubber in Shenzhen last week. After a match featuring second-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, the Court No 1 schedule ends with Nugnadda, who made a big splash here 12 months ago by reaching round two before losing a tight match to Zvonareva. She has an equally tough test today against defending champion Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic.
“I seem to be destined to play champions in this tournament. Last year I met Vera [Zvonareva] and this time Daniela. But on the bright side, I got the chance to compete with a good player. I just have to bring my top form,’’ said Nungnadda, 21, from Nakhon Ratchasima.
On Court No 2, Noppawan will open her account against Japanese Misaki Doi, followed by former Bangkok Open winner Vania King up against Heather Watson of Britain. Then Nicha of Thailand will face Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, followed by the match between Sania Mirza of India and Ayumi Morita of Japan.
In the doubles first round, Shiho Akita of Japan and Nicole Rottmann of Austria beat Hsu Wen-hsin of Taiwan and Emily Webley-Smith of Britain 3-6 6-2 11-9.
In the final singles qualifying rounds, third-seeded Hsieh Su-wei beat compatriot Wang Qiang 6-4 6-3, top seed Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan beat Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-0 6-2, Zhou Yi-miao of China ousted Sacha Jones of Australia 6-3 6-7 (9-11) 6-2 after two hours and 46 minutes while Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand had taken the first set 6-4 from Japan’s Misa Eguchi at press time.
Organisers held a charity lunch for underprivileged children on the beach at the Dusit Thani Hotel tournament venue yesterday. Invited star players including Thailand No 1 Tamarine, two-time champion Zvonareva and Voskoboeva served food to the young quests.
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