Nicha shocks Bulgarian to reach Hua Hin final
NICHA Lertpitaksinchai kept the Thai flag flying at the True Arena Hua Hin with an upset 1-6 6-1 6-4 win over Bulgarian fourth seed Aleksandrina Navdenova to reach her first final in more than 16 months at the US$25,000 ITF Women’s Circuit 2 yesterday.
Nicha clawed back from 2-4 behind in the last set to wrap up the match in one hour and 53 minutes for her first final since winning in Bangkok in May last year.
“The level of my game dropped a bit from the quarter-finals, perhaps because it was the semi-final. We both have a similar game, which is to go for our shots. … That’s why the first two sets went pretty fast,” added the 25-year-old Thai.
Nicha is aiming for just her third career title, after bagging a $25,000 cheque six years ago in Bangalore and $10,000 at the Rama Garden Hotel courts last year.
“Actually I didn’t come to this tournament with expectations as I hadn’t played for three weeks before coming to Hua Hin. Unbelievably I’m playing well,” added Nicha, who will face Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands for the title. The Dutch third seed snapped the run of last week’s winner, China’s Gao Xinyu, 6-2 6-2 in the other semi-final.
“I have never played her before but I know she is tough. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to stop Gao in two sets. I have to summon my top form,” added Nicha.
The 237th-ranked Rus powered past the 18-year-old Chinese, who lost steam after a series of long, tough matches this past week.
“I’m happy with the way I played today and that I was able to finish the match fast as it was quite warm,” said the 25-year-old Dutchwoman, looking to win her first trophy since sweeping four $25,000 titles in 2013.
“I will just go into the match doing the same thing I’ve done the whole week … try to be aggressive and try to have fun out there because it’s the final,” said Rus, winner of a total 10 ITF trophies.
In the doubles final, Laura Pigossi of Brazil won back-to-back titles in Hua Hin after she and Kataryzna Kawa of Poland beat Thai Kamonwan Buayam and Taiwanese partner Lee Pei-chi 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 10-6. Pigossi won last week with Yana Sizikova of Russia.
Kamonwan was disappointed after fighting from a break down to win the second set to force the super-tiebreak.
“We should have won the match after we came back to win the second set. But anything can happen in the super-tie, which went pretty fast. Anyway reaching the doubles final is a good boost for me going into a $10,000 event next week here and I expect to reach at least the semi-finals,” said the 20-year-old from Chon Buri.
