Published on Apr 25, 2004
Courtesy : Lerpong Amsa-ngiam
The Nation  

[TENNIS] The Kingdom’s Federation Cup squad penned a new chapter for Thai tennis by beating India 2-0 in the Zone Asia-Oceania Qualifying Group I play-offs in New Delhi and earning a berth in the World Group Playoffs for the first time in 28 years.

SEA Games champion and world No 234 Suchanan Viratprasert gave the team a big boost with a hard-fought win over inspired Indian Sania Mirza 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to put Thailand in front 1-0.

Then world No 56 Tamarine Tanasugarn gave an almost flawless performance to outclass Indian No 1 Rushmi Chakravarthi, ranked 312 places below her, 6-0 6-1 to lead Thailand to victory and its first slot in the elite field since the country entered the tournament in 1976.

The Thai team celebrated their historical triumph by embracing each other in front of 2,000 fans at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium with a small group of 40 Thai

supporters from the Thai

Embassy watching on.

“It is undoubtedly the most perfect Fed Cup team we’ve ever had. Suchanan played incredibly well to win the first point which made it easy for Tammy. It’s such a great achievement for us,’’ said team supervisor Phitsanu Atthakornsiripho.

Tamarine, the big sister of the team, benefited by a string of unforced errors from her obviously nervous opponent to wrap up the match easier and faster than she could imagine.

“I had to thank Suchanan for winning the first point which made things easy for me because I didn’t have any pressure at all on court. Normally Rushmi plays better than this. I guess she was just too tense,’’ said the 26-year-old Tamarine, a long-time Thai Fed Cup representative.

“I couldn’t be happier to be part of this success because we have never won the playoffs stage before. I don’t mind who we have to play in the World Group Playoffs but I would prefer playing on home soil so that we can get support from Thai fans,’’ added the overjoyed Tamarine.

Suchanan was briefly tested by the 408th-ranked Mirza, whom the Indian team felt could beat her as she is normally nominated as the No 1 singles player. It certainly looked that way as Mirza fought back from 3-5 down in the first set to force the tie-break. But she did not put up much of a challenge in the second set during which she committed a flurry of mistakes to go down easily

“I was so excited because it was a very important tie today and there were so many people coming. I tried to hit every ball back and she started missing a lot of shots after I took the first set,’’ said the delighted Suchanan, who continued her impressive form after having won in Ho Chi Minh last week.

“It’s wonderful to finally reach the World Group Playoffs after participating in the Cup so many times. I’d prefer playing a team that we have the chance to beat so that we can compete in World Group (2005),’’ added the 21-year-old Suchanan.