Wishaya Upsets Japanese to Reach Round 2 in Hua HIn Futures 5
Thai ace Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul upset Japanese Issei Okamura 6-2 7-6 (9-7) to remain the only Thai hope in the singles event after round one of the US$10,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Men’s Futures 5 at True Arena Hua Hin yesterday.
The local young gun, a quarter-finalist in Thailand Futures 4 last week, kept his cool under the high tension of the second set tie-break to stun the 638 th ranked Japanese after one hour and 26 minutes of baseline battle.
“I set up the points well and returned serves well which explained why I took the first set pretty comfortably,” said the 802nd ranked Wishaya who crashed out in the doubles first round along partner Kittipong Wachiramanowong on Monday.
“Then it was pretty close in the second set as he mixed up his serves, making it difficult for me to return. In the tie-break I was fighting my way back from a mini break. It was very tight but I controlled my emotion well and tried to be very careful,” added the 21-year-old big gun who will end the year as the No 1 player in Thailand regardless of his results this and next weeks.
South Korean qualifier Jea Moon Lee is up next for the Thai No 1. Their only encounter is in the doubles last Thursday which the Thai lost in straight sets.
“Like many South Korean players, he is very solid from the baseline. I have to focus on my game and play aggressive tennis.”
While Wishaya moved on, two other Thais, who had to carry wild cards to play this week, did not make it through. Pruchya Isarow lost to qualifier Adrian Andrzejczuk 4-6 3-6. Pol Wattakul, who reached the final eights last week, was ousted since on Monday by South Korean second seed Soon Woo Kwon 2-6 3-6.
In the biggest upset of the day, Chung Hong of South Korea, the last week’s semi-finalist, shocked Russian third seed Ivan Nedelko 6-4 6-2. He was one of the four South Koreans who made it to round 2. That included Jeong Young-Hoon, a qualifier who upset Russian eighth seed Alexander Zhurbin 7-5 4-6 6-2. Noh Sang-Woo and Cho Min Hyeok were the other two South Korean first round winners.
In the rematch of the Saturday’s final, top seed Sadio Doumbia successfully revenged his fellow Frenchman Sabien Reboul with a 6-3 6-4 victory. The 257th ranked Doumbia was serving for the title at 6-5 in the decider of that match but ended up losing in three tough sets.
Sanchai and Jirat
In the doubles first round, Sanchai Ratiwatana, with a temporary partner this week with Jirat Navasirisomboon as his brother Sonchat is not available, beat fourth seed Sochiro Moritani and Issei Okamura of Japan 2-6 6-3 10-7. Pruchya Isarow and Japanese Yuichi Ito beat German Daniel Altmaier and Pirmin Haenle 6-4 6-4.
