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Published on July 26, 2007

The Asian version of the Hopman Cup, which was first introduced last year in Hyderabad, will take place at the LTAT National Tennis Centre from November 8 -11 and will feature six teams from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Uzbekistan and hosts Thailand.

The six participating countries will be divided into two pools and will compete in a round-robin format. The top team from each group will enter the knock-out stage with the winner being awarded a ticket into the Hopman Cup in December.

Last year India represented by Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna won the inaugural edition, making their trip to Perth before finishing second in a pool. India will not come to defend their title this year as their impressive performance in Perth last year earned them an invitation to the eight-nation tournament due on December 30.

 Asian Hopman Cup tournament director Daniel Chambon said there had been attempts to invite Danai Udomchoke and Tamarine Tanasugarn to carry the Thai flag in the Cup.

Tamarine and Paradorn Srichaphan caused a sensation all over the country when they fought from the qualifying round to reach the final of the 2000 Hopman Cup before losing to eventual champions South Africa.

"I've been talking to Danai and Tammy and will get the answers during the US Open. By the end of September I will have the line-ups from each country and we will make an announcement to the public again,'' said Chambon from France.

Also in his list are Japan's women's singles national champion Ayumi Morita and rising

star Kei Nishikori, the hitting partner of Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

However, Paradorn is not expected to recover in time and play for Thailand as he is still nursing a wrist injury.

Meanwhile, three local women paraded into the quarter-finals of the US$10,000 SAT ITF Women's Circuit 3 at the LTAT National Tennis Centre yesterday.

Top seed Nappaorn Tongsalee escaped from the jaws of defeat to beat Sanaa Bhambri of India 5-7 6-2 6-2. Chiang Mai-based Noppawan Lertcheewakarn routed Keren Shlomo of Israel 6-1 6-2 and Varanya Vijuksanaboon beat Shao Shi-Tong of China 6-1 6-3 in the all-qualifier clash.

Two seeded players were upended yesterday with second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi of India falling to Kim Sun-Jung of South Korea 3-6 6-2 3-6 and fourth-seeded Chen Yi of Taiwan losing to Jessy Rompies of Indonesia 6-7 (6-8) 3-6.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation