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Published on October 1, 2007

The Ratiwatana twins amazed the 8,000 fans at the Impact Arena with a gutsy comeback to upset doubles experts Michael Llorda and Nicolas Mahut of France for their historic first ATP doubles trophy in the Thailand Open yesterday.

Sonchat and Sanchai, after losing the first set 3-6, escaped from a mid-match crisis at 4-4, and deuce in the second set before recovering to win 7-5 and 10-7 to capture their first career trophy after a nerve-wrecking battle of 76 minutes.

But in the one-sided singles final, sixth-seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia galloped to a 6-2 6-1 victory over Benjamin Becker of Germany in 56 minutes to celebrate his third ATP crown following his win in Mumbai last year and in Indianapolis in July.

The twins' best record was just two semi-finals in Newport and Los Angeles during the American hard-court season this year. The maiden victory at home along with the tremendous win over the Wimbledon champion Llorda and the former US Open semi-finalist Mahut could not be sweeter.

"We reached our first ATP final at home and we won. I felt warm and hopefully whatever we do from now on will get better,'' said the younger Sanchai, who will share a cheque of US$26,550 with his brother.

For a set and a half, the match went in favour of the experienced French duo, who were faster and better from all around the court. But the Thai siblings played like they had nothing to lose, to level the match with a break in the second set 10th game. The twins looked in trouble again in the super tie-break, trailing 1-4 but then produced unbelievable returns to turn the situation around.

"We couldn't catch up with their speed in the first set. After we lost the first set, we believed that we could still make it,'' said Sonchat.

"We were the only hope for the fans and their support meant a lot to us. We hope that our success will make fans pay more attention on the doubles,'' he added.

"Our next goal is to win more trophies and do well in the Grand Slams, which is every player's dream. We also want to make the cut to the Olympics,'' said Sanchai, who will take a week's break before heading to Stockholm.

Tursunov, ranked 29th in the world, was not only solid, but also powerful from the baseline as he whipped 13 winners to exert pressure on the German, playing his first ATP final.

It was fruitful as the nervous Becker committed 35 unforced errors throughout the afternoon.

"The final is a big occasion so I didn't want to come out playing sloppy, especially against the guy like Benjamin. My concern is to come out to put pressure on him as much as possible because he is playing his first final,'' said the Russian who won a US$76,500 cheque.

"In the second set Benjamin had some chances but I served two aces, that helped. If I let the second set slip away, I might let the match slip away," said Tursunov. "He had jitters which is something that he has to deal with.''

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation

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