Independent Nicha Makes 1st Semis in 15 Months,
Independent Nicha Lertpitaksinchai never sought a show-up support from her family as she reached her first semi-final in 15 months following an upset win over Chinese second seeded Lu Jia-jing of China in the US$25,000 Singha Cal-Comp & XYZ Printing ITF W
While most fellow players prefer the appearance of their family members cheering ringside the court, the seventh seeded Thai was fine on her own. That was also the same scenario on Thursday when she came back from a second set loss to settle score with Lu, who beat her in three sets in China a fortnight ago, with 6-2 2-6 6-1 win in one hour and 50 minutes.
Growing up in a family with her father being tied up with work and mother being a home person, Nicha has been familiar with the absence of her parents at the tennis court since the junior years.
“I will feel a bit strange if my parents come to watch me play in a match,” Nicha giggled as she replied during an interview. “My parents haven’t got involved in my tennis much since I was a junior. I travel with Peangtarn (Plipuech, the current Thai No 2 player), most of the time,” added the 25-year-old Nicha.
Despite playing on the tour along with her doubles partner Peangtarn all the time without a coach, Nicha insisted she was quite disciplined and never got off tracks.
“I don’t like to go out at night especially during a tournament. I prefer to keep myself under a strict tennis routine. I might go to tourist spots or go shopping but only after the tournament,” said the 311th ranked Thai.
Nicha who last reached this stage of a tournament was in the US$10,000 in Bangkok in June last year will take on Bulgarian fourth seeded Aleksandrina Naydenova who survived several match points before outlasting Kataryzna Kawa of Poland 4-6 7-5 6-4.
“Playing any European rival is always tough as they hit and serves big. I haven’t won a tournament in a long time but I don’t want to put myself under pressure. I hope to bring my best tennis tomorrow,” added Nicha who won only two ITF titles, a US$25,000 event in Bangalore, 2010 and a US$10,000 one last year in Bangkok.
In the match of the day, last week’s champion Gao Xinyu of China proved again that she was a hard nut to crack as she came from 0-3 behind in the final set to beat sixth seed Shiho Akita of Japan in a rematch of the Saturday’s final showdown.
In the long baseline duel that last over three hours, Gao, who was a brink away from defeat in the second round match against top seed Arina Rodionova on Wednesday, advanced to the semi-final with a score of 3-6 7-5 6-5 as Akita retired with a knee injury.
The Chinese teenager will play Third seed Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands who also needed three sets to move past eighth seed Tian Ran of China 6-1 5-7 6-4.
