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Published on August 15, 2007

The top seed Danai was once again on fire, completing his singles quarter-final match in just 48 minutes with a 6-0 6-3 win over South Korean Nam Hyun-woo.

Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana are just one match away from the men's doubles medal as they vanquished long-time Indonesian rivals Prima Simpatiaji and Sunu Wahyu Trijati 6-0 6-3 in just 45 minutes in the semi-finals.

But local sweetheart Suchanan Viratprasert had to bid goodbye to the tournament, falling to Indonesian ninth-seed Sandy Gumulya 6-2 1-6 6-2 in the women's quarter-finals. The Indonesian dark-horse dethroned top seed and world No 57 Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan in the previous round.

The other unsuccessful Thais on the day were Napaporn Tongsalee and Sonchat who were upset by Croatian Ivan Cerovic and Ivana Abramovic 6-3 1-6 6-2 in the mixed-doubles quarter-finals.

Favourite Danai proved yesterday why the pundits had picked him as a gold medal prospect. He dropped just five games en route to the final four. The average time he spent in each round was less than an hour.

But the road will be tougher from now on for the Bangkok University law student. The first real test will be the semi-final today where he faces arch-rival and third-seed Chen Ti of Taiwan.

"I need to win this match to boost my confidence. I have beaten him three times before but they all went to three sets,'' said Danai who is concerned about his injured right foot.

"It depends on how I start the match. If I move well from the beginning, there should be no problem,'' said Danai, ranked 106 in the world.

The twins, the 2005 Games bronze medallists, will play Russian second-seeds Pavel Chekhov and Alexander Rasnorutskiy for a historic gold meal for the Thai tennis team in today's final at 4pm.

"We've never played them but we know that they hit big and return well. But we are confident and we are playing at the top of our form now,'' said Sonchat , a senior law student at Sripatum University.

The Taiwanese women's tennis squad stayed in contention for gold. Women's singles second-seed Chan Chin Wei, No 199 on WTA rankings, wasted just a couple of games on her way to a 6-2 6-0 win over Slovak seventh-seeded Stanislava Hrozenska in the quarter-finals. Chin-wei will face Russian third-seed Alisa Kleybanova who moved past Pole Joanna Sakowicz. 6-3 6-4.

Australian Open runner-up Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung picked off sixth-seeded Yoo Mi and Lee Jin-a of South Korea 6-3 6-2 in the semi-finals. The Taiwanese top seeds take on Kazaks Amina and Madina Rakhim, in today's final.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation