Another setback for Tamarine
[TENNIS] The miserable season of Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn continued when she lost her fifth straight match with a first round exit at the US$25,000 (Bt1 million) USTA Challenger of Redding tournament at the Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness centre in Redding, California, on Tuesday.
Seeded second in the tournament, Tamarine was knocked out 6-3 2-6 6-3 by Kiwi teenager Marina Erakovic, which worsened her 2006 record to 3-5. Her only three wins came in the qualifying round of the Australian Open in January. "The girl served very good and played super good tennis. She did not miss anything. I think I played not bad and tried hard out there, but it was not a good day for me,'' said Tamarine, whose ranking dropped to No 153 this week. Her position on the WTA rankings prevented her from entering a tier I tournament in Miami this week. She has to readjust her schedule and will play only challenger events until April. "Now I've lost in the first round in five tournaments, but I've lost seven in a row before. I think I've been unlucky a little bit, but I will keep trying,'' said Tamarine, who had some success in the doubles. She teamed up with towering Uzbek Akgul Amanmuradova and they cleared their first round hurdle with a win over American pair Lauren Barnikow and Megan Bradley.
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