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Published on January 12, 2008

Early-bird Danai, energised by his mother's culinary skills, surged back from a second-set loss to down Anthony Dupuis of France 6-2 2-6 6-4 in a match on court No 7.

Scheduled to play the first match of the day, Danai rose early and feasted on khao khai jeow (Thai omelette with rice) prepared by his mother Kanchana.

'With mum here, I don't have to worry about food. She cooks Thai food for me,'' said Danai, after surviving a challenge from strong winds and his aggressive opponent.

'I knew he would play an offensive game and fast. So my plan was to hit the ball back deep and mix up my returns. He was nervous and made many mistakes in the first set,'' Danai said.

'But he hit everything to win the second set. There were several breaks of serves in the third until I went up 4-3. Holding on to that break was the key,'' the Thai said.

In his final qualifying match, Danai will take on American-Indian Rajeev Ram, who beat Australian Carsten Ball 6-4 7-5.

Ram had beaten Danai during their last meeting in straight sets in a Challenger event in Sacramento two years ago.

'He plays much better now. Earlier, his groundstrokes were not that good and he made many mistakes from the baseline. Now he doesn't miss that much. I have to return his serves well as he serves and volleys,' Danai said.

Later in the day, red-hot Tamarine surprisingly subdued former world No 4 Jelena Dokic of Australia 6-2 6-1 in less than an hour. She improved her record over Dokic to 3-1.

Tamarine will play either Elena Baltacha or Shuai Zhang in the final qualifying match today.

'I'm happy with the way I've played in the first two matches. For Shuai, it will be a tough match as she is a powerful and a solid baseliner,'' said Tammy who plans to team up with Naoko Nakamura of Japan in the doubles section.

The Nation