Older But Wiser Nudnida Reaches Quarter-finals in Hua Hin.
Sixth seed Nudnida Luangnam proved age was nothing but number as the 29-year-old eliminated younger rival Liu Si Qi of China 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the US$10,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Women’s Circuit 2 yesterday.
With her Thai peers already hanging up the racquets, the Sukhothai based is now the Kingdom’s oldest active female player and the oldest quarter-finalist at the True Arena Hua Hin this week following a win over the 21-year-old rival.
“All of a sudden I’m the oldest (Thai female) player who is still competing. When I look around, there are only young girls out there,” said the former world No 195 who just returned to the competition after seven months of ankle injury.
Although being the most senior makes her feel a bit uneasy sometimes, she has no problem getting along with younger friends even at some point they have different interests.
“We chit chat and have funny time together. I can socialize with these kids but I’m closer to players who are not too young like Luksika Khumkhum and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn,” added Nudnida who viewed that she had no disadvantage competing against younger opponents.
“When you have more experience, you tend to have more variety of games. Like today, after I was down a double break at 0-3 , I changed my game plan by hitting the ball deep into her weaker side and won six games in a row,” added Nudnida.
Today she has another young foe waiting across the net. Fifteen-year-old Slovak Viktoria Morayova, who knocked out top seed Lu Jiaxing of China in round one, had a walkover in round two as Xin Yuan of China had a cold.
“I saw her in a training session and found that she hit like she didn’t care anything. Now girls play like that as they are young and powerful. I have to figure out a game plan and try a few things to check if it will work,” Nunida said.
Fifth seed Bunyawi Thamchaiwat was the other Thai winner on Wednesday as she came back from a mid match lapse to beat Chinese Shuyue Ma 6-4 4-6 6-2. The local teenager will next face Li Yixuan who ousted beat Chinese compatriot Zheng Wushuang 2-6 6-4 6-1.
Elsewhere, second seed Katahrina Lehnert of the Philippines beat Kazakh qualifier Arina Taluyenko 6-3 6-0 . Third seed Guo Hanyu of China extended her winning streaks to seven matches in a row as she oiutclassed 14-year-old Thai Dolavee Tumthong 6-1 6-2 in just 59 minutes.
Eighth seed Natalija Kostic of Serbia dismissed 15-year-old Lulu Radovcic of Canada 7-5 6-4 while Aki Yamasoto of Japan upset seventh seed Varunya Wongteanchai 6-2 7-5.
In the JWS ATT Thailand Series M 6 final, Pruchya Isarow beat Phassawit Bhuraparitta 6-3 6-2 to lift up his 5th Asian Tennis Tour title and remain unbeatable in five circuits.
