Teens turn on the power in Thailand Championships
Teenagers Patorn Hanchaikul and Anchisa Chantha stunned the heavy favourites to win the second circuit of the Thailand Championships at the National Tennis Development Centre in Nonthaburi province on Sunday.
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Patron, 18, fought back after being two points away from defeat to beat former Thai No 1 Pruhcya Isarow 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the men’s singles final, while Anchisa, also 18, employed her well-paced and aggressive groundstrokes to beat last week’s champion, Patcharin Cheapchandej, 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 in the women’s singles showdown.
Patron, who is based in Bangkok, had to dig deep to turn the situation around after falling behind 4-5 40-40 on serves against his more experienced rival. He then tightened his defence to force errors from Pruchya to win the next three games and prevailed.
“I’d never beaten him before. So, my plan was to play solid tennis and hit good serves to set up my chances. I’m so happy to win my first professional title,” said Patorn, the former junior world No. 61, who is eyeing a spot in Thailand's SEA Games team before playing college tennis for the University of Michigan this year.
“I can play some ITF 15,000 events while I study there. The university is famous for tennis, which should be a great opportunity for me,” the teenager said.
