Tammy puts an end to clay court hoodoo
[TENNIS] Tamarine Tanasugarn finally put an end to her clay court jinx after she tamed Chinese qualifier Sun Shengnan 6-4 6-2, to advance into the second round of the US$175,000 (Bt5.7 million) Internationaux de Starsbourg in France yesterday.
In her final tune-up for the French Open, Tamarine suddenly started sending signals that she has the skills and resources to tackle the European clay courts, taking just over an hour to move past the Chinese for her first WTA main draw match win on clay since 2003. In fact, last week Tamarine staged her first win on clay in over four years, but it was not in the main draw. The Thai had dismissed young Italian Astrid Besse 6-3 6-2 in the first qualifying round of the Italian Open - only to fall to Chinese Tian Tian Sun of China in the next match. In the doubles first round played on Monday, Tamarine and Japan's Aiko Nakamura beat South Africa's Lisa Marshall and Germany's Janine Tiszolczy 6-1 6-1. But Tamarine will not be able to savour her victory for long, as waiting for her in round two will be second-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro. The world No 4 is one of the hottest players on the WTA Tour this season, having snatched three titles including the trophy in Rome last Sunday. Meanwhile, former gold medallist Danai Udomchoke will skip this year's SEA Games as he is committed to a special tournament in Japan, which coincides with the regional sporting event this December. The 2003 men's singles winner in Vietnam had already signed the deal with Sony three months ago to represent them in a friendly club event which will take place from December 7-12 while the SEA Games will occur between 6-16. "It is certain that Danai is not going to play in the SEA Games. He has a contract with Sony Japan to play for their club during that period,'' said Wutthipun, Danai's father. The Danai's absence from the Games would nail the Thai team's coffin as ace player Paradorn Srichaphan will still be recovering from a wrist injury. Only doubles specialists Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana are the Thai main players now. Danai, who won the silver in Manila two years ago, lost his last warm-up for the French Open to South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik in Austria on Monday. He will enter Paris on Thursday to prepare for the French Open which starts on Monday.
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