Noppawan surges into semi-finals
Sizzling-hot Thai Noppawan Lertcheewakarn upset top seed Erika Sema of Japan to reach her first semi-final in three months in the US$25,000 ITF Women's Circuit in Phuket yesterday.
The sixth-seeded Thai, whose last title came in Dubai in December, rebounded from a second set lapse in the quarter-final to beat her 136th-ranked rival 6-4 2-6 6-1.
Chiang-Mai based Noppawan strode to a 3-0 lead before the Japanese called for a medical time-out to treat a wound on her back. A rejuvenated Sema returned and promptly broke serve twice to level the match at four-all. The Thai then held her serve before engineering a crucial break to take the set.
“I was playing well at the beginning then I lost my momentum a bit after [Sema’s] timeout. However I stuck to my game plan by hitting to her forehand and it worked,’’ said the 20- year old Noppawan.
The Japanese dug deep into her repertoire of shots and serves to keep the Thai off balance and level the match with the second set. But Noppawan’s aggressive baseline game eventually took its toll, with Sema surrendering the last six games and the match.
“I went for my shots even though she was quite solid. I was hitting the ball incredibly, I didn’t even know how I made some of those shots. I hit a lot of winners in the third set,’’ said Noppawan, who next takes on Reka-Luca Jani of Hungary, who ousted Austrian Nikola Hofmanova 7-5 6-3.
“We have played just once before, when we were juniors many years ago, and I won that. She is quite persistent and has a variety of shots. But I’m quite confident with my game now and I hope to keep up with this form,’’ said Noppawan.
