Nudnida and Patcharin into Hua Hin quarter-finals
Veteran Nudnida Luangnam benefited a string of unforced errors from fourth-seeded Pei-Chi Lee of Taiwan to win her second round match and join qualifier Patcharin Cheapchandej in the quarter-finals of the US$15,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Pro Circuit W1 at the True Arena Hua Hin on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Nudnida, who just won the local TATP tour a fortnight ago proved too solid from the baseline as she upset Pei-Chi Lee 6-3 6-4 in 76 minutes under the scorching heat in the beach resort town.
“I was not serving well as I’m adjusting some technique but luckily she made more errors than usual. She loves to attack but today was not her day. I tried to run down all shots and hit them back deep,” said Nudnida one of the fittest female players in the country.
“With my age I need to be physically strong or otherwise I wouldn’t be able to fight with the young girls. I cut down my hitting session to only in the morning but I spend a few hours in the gym in the afternoon every day,” added Nudnida who reached the final of a Women’s Circuit in Hua Hin last year.
She will play Preena Bhambri of India who upset seventh seed Michika Ozeki of Japan 6-2 6-0 tomorrow.
“Bhambri is very solid from the baseline. I have to serve well and bring all I have to play against her.”
Qualifier Patcharin Cheapchandej beat Michaela Haet of Australia, the first round upset winner over second seed Bunyawi Thamchaiwat, 6-1 6-3.
The other two Thais were stopped in the second round actions. Tamacham Momkoonthod lost to Karman Kaur THandi of India 2-6 1-6 while Kamonwan Buayam fell victim to Zheng Wushuang of China 1-6 2-6.
Elsewhere, Zhang Ling of Hong Kong stunned third seed Estelle Cascino of France 6-3 6-3 while Sun Ziyue of China beat fellow countrywoman Chen Jiahui of China 7-5 0-6 6-3.
