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Published on July 29, 2007

The Thai teenager, in her second final - she was runner-up in Jakarta in April - was two points away from the trophy at 5-2 in the tie-break, but a gutsy fightback from Lu deprived the Thai of her maiden crown.

"She didn't miss anything at 5-2, but my game let me down. I was disappointed not to be able to make it,'' said the 15-year-old from Chiang Mai.

The local girl kicked off the match in lacklustre style, and errors kept coming from her double-fisted ground strokes as she dropped the first set. But once she settled down in the second, Noppawan made Lu chase down the ball from one side to the other as she forced the final into a third set.

As the tide appeared to flow the Thai's way, the heavens opened and a deluge suspended play for several hours at the LTAT National Tennis Centre. But above all, it gave the seemingly exhausted Chinese plenty of time to cool off.

When play resumed, both players were solid on serves and a tie-break was needed to decide the winner. At one stage the Thai saw the light at the end of the tunnel, leading by

5-2. But it was at this key moment that Lu showed her fighting spirit, getting everything back to push the impatient Thai into a series of erratic strokes. Lu reeled off five straight points to finish off the match.

"I don't want to blame it on the rain, even if it did break my momentum. But what I've learned from this match is, I still have to work harder on my movements and serves,'' said Noppawan.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation