Danai, Kittipong to spearhead Thai challenge
The Kingdom's top two tennis players, Danai Udomchoke and Kittipong Wachiramanowong, will spearhead the Thai contenders in the US$50,000 Chang-SAT Bangkok Open from August 24 to September 1 at Rama Gardens Hotel.
Danai, now ranked No 329 in the world, is automatically accepted into the main draw of the challenger event while Kittipong, No 703, has been given a wildcard. The other Thai wildcard recipient is Varis Sornboonnak.
Danai, who turned 32 earlier this month, has played few international events in recent times as he is focused on his training at the Police Academy and raising his son Porto. Though he has won back-to-back local events in Lampang and here at Rama Gardens last week, the 2009 finalist is quite modest about his chances.
“I’m not in great physical shape now. I just used the two local tournaments to prepare for this challenger. I will do my best and see how my body reacts,” said Danai, who is playing a Future tournament in Taiwan this week.
Kittipong, 23, will play his first event in a month after getting sidelined by a back injury he sustained during a US$10,000 ITF event in Bangkok last month.
“I just started practising again today. There are still some marks from the acupuncture I had the day before. I also underwent two ultrasound sessions before that. I hope my body will pick up well,” said Kittipong.
Doubles specialists Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana will also participate in the event, which they won in 2010. World No 125 Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia will be the top seed of the tournament with Australian Matthew Ebden, No 127, Japanese Go Soeda, No 132, American Bobby Reynolds, No 133, and Taiwanese Jimmy Wang, No 139, rounding out the top 5 seeds. Young gun Marton Fucsovics from Hungary, the former Wimbledon junior champion, is one of the rising stars to participate next week.
According to the tournament organisers, the event will be streamed live and the scores will be updated live, according to the twin requirements of the ATP. Siam Sports TV, on the TrueVisions platform, will beam live coverage of the event from August 30 to September 1 from 10am onwards on channel 116.
