Wishaya Into Second Quarter-finals in Hua Hin Men's Futures
Hot shot Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul continued his impressive form by beating Wang Huixin of China 6-2 6-2 in the second round of the US$10,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Thailand Men’s Futures 3 at True Arena Hua Hin yesterday.
The on form young gun who won the ATP Challenger doubles title in Bangkok with Kittipong Wachiramanowong a week ago unleashed a series of explosive shots to tame the Chinese qualifier in just 65 minutes for his second straight ITF quarter-final berths.
“It was very windy today so I tried not to hit the ball close to the lines to avoid making mistakes,” said Wishaya who also reached the quarter-finals here two weeks ago. “I stuck to my game plan by being aggressive to give him under pressure,” he added.
The 21-year-old was the last Thai standing in the singles maindraw after three countrymen were shown the exit on Wednesday. Teenage rising star Jirat Navasirisomboon, a day after a stunning win over Indian third seed Vishnu Vardhan of India, failed to summon his top form against Chung Yunseong of South Korea, the former world junior top 3 who beat him hands-on 6-4 6-0.
Phassawit Burapharitta also went down easily to Japanese seventh seed Yusuke Takahashi 6-3 6-1 while former Thai No 1 Pruchya Isarow, playing with injury on both knees, lost to second seed Escoffier Antoine of France 7-5 6-4.
In today quarter-finals, Wishaya is to take on Chinese Bowen Quayang, the sixth seed who snapped the run of Australian qualifier Calum Puttergill 6-0 6-4. The Thai is tied with the Chinese 2-2 in their lifetime record with the latest win of 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-4) happening on this venue a fortnight ago in the first round.
“I beat him in three tough sets in Futures 1 and I’m quite confident with my game right now. However I cannot underestimate him and will focus on what I have to do,” added Wishaya.
In the other second round actions, top seed Hong Seong Chan of South Korea beat Cao Zhaoyi of China 6-1 6-4, Tokuda Renta of Japan ousted Aaron Addison of Australia 7-5 4-6 6-4 and Jumpei Yamasaki of Japan upset compatriot fifth seed Issei Okamura 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand will use the same line-up of players spearheaded by Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana for the next week’s Davis Cup Zonal Qualifiers Group II final against Taiwan in Nonthaburi.
Kittipong Wachiramanowong and Pruchya, also in the team, along with the twins contributed to the previous round’s win over Vietnam. Thailand will be the underdog going into the tie against the visitor which consists of Yang Tsung-Hua and Lee Kuan-Yi, ranked No 400 and 527 in the world respectively. The winning team will be promoted to Group I next year.
