Gutsy Peangtarn beats Simmonds for Hua Hin semi-final
With her back against the wall, Peangtarn Plipuech displayed her fighting spirit to claw back from 1-5 down in the second set to beat Chanel Simmonds of South Africa 7-5 7-6 (7-1) in the rain delayed the US$25,000 Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF Pro Circuit W3 on Thursday.
The Thai No 2 and second seed Peangtarn was up a break at 4-3 and 15 all when pouring rain suspended play for four hours. Although she lost her serves right after play resumed, the 23-year-old Peangtarn intensified her attacks, blasting a forehand winner followed by a lob to break Simmonds for 6-5 lead. The Thai finally closed out the first set after her opponent pounded a backhand to the net.
The Thai hope who reached her last semi-final in Tsukuba last August where she went on to win her only US$25,000 ITF title fought bravely from 1-5 down in the second set, saving a set point at 4-5 to force the tie-break. She ran down all shots frantically to shake the confidence of Simmonds and prevailed after two hours and 23 minutes.
“I tried to give everything I had out there because I didn’t want to play the third set. Winning a tough match like this gave me a lot of confidence,” said the 24-year-old Thai who faces India’s Karman Kaur Thandi on Friday. The Indian teenager made back-to-back semi-finals by eliminating Giuliana Olmos of Mexicao 6-1 6-3 in just 67 minutes.
“I beat her three years ago in India. But this time it won’t be easy as she is playing well. I have to play solid tennis against her.”
Top seed Jacqueline Cako of the US snapped the run of last week’s winner Michaela Haet of Australia by beating the teenager 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.
Third seed Nicha Lertpitaksinchai was no where near her best as she failed to Harriet Dart of Great Britain 0-6 3-6 in just 66 minutes.