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Published on October 14, 2007

 Italy's Flavia Pennetta played the giant killer's role to perfection knocking out American Venus Williams to set up today's final showdown with Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan in the US$200,000 PTT Bangkok Open.

The inspired world No 79, who put behind her the memory of losing to the six-time Grand Slam winner two weeks ago, won the battle of heavy ground strokes 6-4 7-6 (10-8) in front of a disappointed 2,500-strong crowd at the LTAT National Tennis Development Centre.

Her opponent in the final is 18-year-old Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan who outlasted Yan Zi of China 7-5 3-6 7-5 in two hours and 21 minutes. This will be Chan's first career final.

Pennetta went down 2-6 2-6 to Williams in Seoul at the same stage a fortnight ago. But yesterday, she was a different player, keeping the world No 8 at bay throughout the match with a masterful baseline game.

"In Seoul, I was nervous when I played her for the first time. I made errors. But this time I did my best," said the 25-year-old from Milan.

Williams accepted that Pennetta was the better player on the day and had only herself to blame as she concluded her Asian tour, after winning in Seoul and turning second-best in Tokyo. "She tried hard and played her shots. Against me she has to play her best, she goes for a lot more and did well.  I had a lot of errors," said Williams, who is the third tournament favourite to suffer a premature exit after Jelena Jankovic and Shahar Peer.

Chan, who won the World University Games doubles gold medal on this court in August, was more consistent towards the end of her match with Yan. "She gave me a tough match but I tried to stay focused and play with confidence. I'm excited about my first WTA final," said the former Pattaya junior champion.

"She's playing well. I will try to keep focused. Everybody wants to win," said Chan who loves to play in the Kingdom where she feels comfortable and has a lot of friends.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

 The Nation

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