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Published on November 30, 2007

Man on a mission Danai Udom-choke successfully booked a spot for tomorrow's play-offs following his second straight win in the yellow group round-robin in the US$100,000 LG Asia Cup yesterday.

The hasty top seed wasted only an hour to dispatch Vivek Shokeen of India 6-3 6-4 to make sure that he would make it in time for the wedding of Paradorn Srichaphan and Natalie Glebova.

Danai's second win, after the first over Mohammed Ghareeb of Kuwait on Wednesday, together with Uzbek Denis Istomin's 7-6 (7/1) 6-3  triumph over the Kuwaiti, means the Uzbek and the Thai will advance to the knockout stage regardless of the result of their match today.

"I played OK but not with as much confidence as I should have had. If I was at the top of my game, I would have gone for my shots more,'' Danai said.

Danai holds a 2-1 lifetime record against the 226th ranked Istomin. The Thai walked away with a four-set victory the last time they confronted in the 2005 Davis Cup.

"He tries to hit winners every shot. He has good serves and can be very tough to beat if he is in form,'' Danai said.

About the wedding, he said: "I don't have any special present for them but contributed some money. They love each other very much."

Meanwhile, Weerapat Doakmaiklee was out of contention after he suffered a second defeat, losing to Im Kyu-tae of South Korea 1-6 4-6 in just an hour in the red group.

The second seed Im will be joined in the play-offs by Japan's Gouichi Motomura who demolished Ashutosh Singh of India 6-1 6-2.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

 The Nation

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