Rus Comes Back from Brink of Defeat to Beat Nicha for Hua Hin Title.

The lefthander Rus despite being one game away from defeat fought back bravely to turn the tide against the local hope to win her first title since 2013.

In the first set Nicha she recovered from a break down to reel off three games in a row with attacking baseline game to lead 3-1.

The Thai was facing triple break points at 0-40 in the next game but erratic play from the Dutchwoman got her off the hook and went on to hold for 4-1.

Rus saved four break points to hold for the first time for 2-4 and had a chance to break back at 30-40. But Nicha unleashed one of her impressive backhand crosscourt winner to save the break point and finally went up 5-2 after Rus sprayed a forehand wide.

Nicha applied a sly drop shot to set up a set point at 40-30 as the unaware Rus could only watch. She wrapped up the 46-minute first set 6-3 after the Dutch rival sent a backhand wide.

After a toilet break, Nicha returned to court with a new pink shirt. She managed a double break to stride to a big 5-1  lead. Thanks to a string of easy mistakes from the Dutch rival.

Rus requested for a couple of sodas and appeared to regain energy after that as she went for her shots and successful leveled for five all. In the tie-break, it was Rus who took full charge with her unrelenting flat groundstrokes. She whipped a forehand down the line winner to arrive at set point at 6-4 before Nicha netted a forehand to surrender the set at 7-6 (7-4) after 59 minutes.

In the final set, Nicha was down a break at 4-5 and faced three championship points but Rus committed two backhand errors and served a double fault to allow the Thai to get back into the match at five all. They traded service breaks and a tie-break was required again in the match.

The Dutchwoman was the more energetic and persistent in the baseline duel as she finally won the match in almost three hours.