Courtesy : The Nation
Lerpong Amsa-ngiam
Published on April 25, 2005

[TENNIS] Croatia overcame the heat and won the decisive doubles rubber to beat Thailand 3-2 in their Fed Cup Group II tie yesterday at Patong Beach and will now challenge for a spot in a higher grouping.

The two countries were level at 2-2 after four singles matches, leaving only the doubles to decide the winner. Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic and Matea Mezak proved to be a far better combination than locals Tamarine Tanasugarn and Napaporn Tongsalee and went on to win the decisive match 6-4 6-2.

The reward for Croatia is playing a losing team from the World Group I event in the play-offs from July 9-10 for a shot at promotion to the 2006 Group I event.

Thailand will play a winner from the qualifying zone from July 9-10. The draw for the play-offs will be held in London on May 3.

Thailand was in trouble after left-hander Kostanic made the most of some uncharacteristic errors from Tamarine to win the third singles rubber 6-3 6-2 in only 75 minutes and give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

But a brilliant display by Thailand’s world No 202 Suchanan Viratprasert levelled the tie at 2-2 with a stunning victory over the 96th-ranked Sanda Mamic, who suffered in the blistering heat before losing 6-3 7-6 (7-1).

“I had no choice but to win the match. I just stuck with the game play by staying in the rallies. Mamic was easily exhausted in these conditions,’’ said Thai No 2 Suchanan, who posted her second win over a top 100 player after beating Nicole Pratt of Australia in last year’s Fed Cup.

“I lost to Mamic before, but this time it was different because of the support from the crowd and the weather.

“It was a good match but I hope there will be better matches for me in the future,’’ added Suchanan, who was beaten by Mamic in an ITF event in Italy last year.

While Suchanan was at her best, Tamarine was not. She played below par, but praised her young team-mates.

“Suchanan helped us a lot and kept our hopes alive into the doubles and Napaporn came up with a terrific performance. I did not maintain my level while the Croatians played the right shots at the right time,’’ said Tamarine, who prefers to play an away tie in July’s play-off.

Napaporn, who grew up in the southern town of Songkhla, impressed fans with some nice shots at the net but still lacks experience against highly-ranked opponents.

“I was a bit sad that we ended up losing the tie, but everyone gave their all,’’ said Napaporn, who was embarrassed by Tamarine’s praise.

Despite the defeat, team captain Vittaya Samrej was satisfied with the result and promised to keep Thailand in the World Group II category.

“I think we had success by pushing a world-class team like Croatia to the limit. Now we must maintain our status in this group and we will work harder to have our team ready for the next tie,’’ said Vittaya, a former Davis Cup player.

The win was a relief for Croatian captain Goran Prpic, who was without top player Karolina Sprem due to illness and forced to play in unfamiliar conditions.

“Of course I was relieved. Now we can go back home happy. The conditions here were very tough and we have never played in a situation like this before,’’ he said.

Tamarine broke early to lead 3-2 but a lapse in concentration cost her the next game and a chance to go 4-2 up. Kostanic turned the situation around to take four straight games, wrapping up the first set after 38 minutes with a forehand winner.

Tamarine’s game did not improve and she wound up losing many points in rallies. Despite her serves being up to 88 per cent good, her groundstrokes let her down and she looked slow around the court.

Kostanic, using slices and well-placed shots from the forehand, broke Tamarine in the third and seventh games to lead 5-2 and then comfortably served out the match.

Suchanan was persistent from the back of the court and ran down every ball from the hard-hitting Mamic and forced the impatient Croatian into errors. She had an early break and held on to the advantage until 5-3. After having three set points, Suchanan wrapped up the first set on her fourth chance after Mamic committed her 27th error.

Mamic broke the Thai for a 2-1 lead in the second set before rain stopped play for 10 minutes. The momentum then swung back and forth between the two players with Mamic leading first at 4-2 and then Suchanan having the edge at 5-4.

At 5-6, the Thai put up a great fight to prevent Mamic from serving for the set to extend play into a tie-break, which she won.