Noppawan makes history with title

Noppa

The 17-year-old from Chiang Mai rallied from a slow start to upset world junior No 1 Kristina Mladenovic 3-6 6-3 6-1.

The victory was another feather in the rich cap of the Thai, who had won two doubles titles, the 2008 junior US Open and this year's Roland Garros.

Noppawan, who ended the 2008 season as the top junior player, has settled a score with the French Open junior champion who easily beat her in two sets in a warm-up tournament on grass in Roehampton last week.

She has also made amends at the All England Club, where she lost the final to Laura Robson of Great Britain a year ago. She also broke the record of Tamarine Tanasugarn, who was a runner-up at junior Wimbledon in 1995.

"I never thought I would win this. After the first set I just seized my opportunities as I got nothing to lose. After one set all, I knew I stood a shot at winning,'' said Noppawan who hit the ball with two hands from both sides.

"I just wanted to tell my dad and the Siriwat family that I finally made it,'' said the overwhelmed teenager.

Noppawan had some problems with the big serves of Mladenovic, who is 182cm tall. But once she sorted it out, Noppawan started dictating terms from the baseline.

In the first set the 16-year-old Mladenovic managed a crucial break to go up 5-3 and wrapped it up with a 121mph ace. The set lasted 40 minutes.

Noppawan sprayed two successive shots to drop the third game of the second set and fell 1-2 but broke right back for two-all with aggressive returns of serve.

Play went with serve until the French girl handed a break and a 5-3 lead to the Thai when her shot found the net. Noppawan comfortably held the next game to take the 36-minute second set to level the tie.

After a long opening game in the decider, the Thai scored an early break and went on to gain a big lead at 4-0. Mladenovic held to follow 1-4 and asked for a medical time-out for a knee injury. But she could not turn the tide as the Thai took the last two games to make history.