Courtesy : Lerpong Amsa-Ngiam (The Nation)
Published on Jul 11, 2004

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Suchanan, Tamarine put Thais in box seat

Host Thailand is a match win away from an historic berth in the Fed Cup World Group after winning two rubbers to lead favourite Australia 2-0 in their Play-off tie at Muang Thong Thani yesterday.

The 2,000 fans at the SAT Stadium were treated to two sensational matches. First, unfancied Suchanan Viratprasert produced the performance of her life to stun the Australian team by taking out world No 41 Nicole Pratt 6-2 1-6 6-1 in one hour and 50 minutes.

It was the win the home team was hoping for to put them in an advantageous position.

Then the country’s No 1 Tamarine Tanasugarn pressed home the advantage against the hard-hitting Samantha Stosur, fighting off two match points to win 7-5 2-6 8-6 in a marathon clash that lasted 2 hours and 28 mins.

“I’m happy I pulled off the match after facing two match points. I had just came from Wimbledon and had some problem adjusting to the court while Stosur did everything right. We need one more point now to win the tie but Australia won’t make it easy, ’’ said Tamarine, who kicks off today’s action against Pratt whom she is leading 4-2 in their head-to-head record.

With a stunning 2-0 lead, Thailand needs just one win from three matches today. After the Tamarine-Pratt match, Suchanan will take on Stosur. Napaporn Tongsalee and Montinee Tangphong will finish the tie in the doubles rubber.

Although no one expected her to push Pratt to the limit, the Thai No 2 proved highly resilient to keep the Australian at bay in the first and third sets to gain her first victory over a top 100 player.

“I didn’t expect to beat her and I’m very happy to win the match. I was nervous at the beginning but tried to focus on my game especially in the third set,’’ said the No 174 Thai who was not all that surprised by her upset win.

“Upsets happen in events like the Fed Cup. It’s just a matter of who plays better and has better concentration. Today I was very concentrated and played my game by attacking her backhand and keeping the first serve percentage high,’’ said Suchanan, who has improved her Fed Cup record to 10-5.

Pratt was surprised by how poorly she played and how well her low-ranked opponent coped.

“Obviously I was very disappointed because I wanted to win the first point for my team. I could not put my game together and should play better than that. I have to give credit to her as she played better than her ranking. She moved quickly and created good angles,’’ the veteran Australian said.

The brilliant performance of Suchanan was a big shock to Australian captain Evonne Cawley who hopes her team, with their backs to the wall, will rally and win the remaining matches today.

“I was surprised by the way she played against an experienced player. This really showed the rankings didn’t tell anything. However, I believe we can come back to win because nothing is certain until the final point is hit. When you play for your country, you have to try your hardest,’’ said the former world No 1.

With the loss to Tamarine, Stosur has not won a match in four Fed Cup attempts. She came close yesterday but blew her chances.

“I had two match points but didn’t hit the balls in. I didn’t put enough pressure on Tammy, but she is a good player to be able to come back and win the match,’’ said the Australian No 2 who will look to make amends against Suchanan today.

Tamarine was in jeopardy when facing a couple of match points at 4-5 and 15-40 in the final set. But Stosur hit four consecutive errors to allow the Thai to revive at 5-5. She used a lob to set up triple break point at 6-6 and 0-40 and although the Australian saved one, she hit a forehand long to put the Thai in front at 7-6 as the crowd roared.

The Thai reached match point with a passing shot and wrapped up the tough battle after Stosur missed another forehand shot.