Thai twins get past Taiwanese-American pair
Top seeds Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana ended the winning run of Taiwanese Chen Ti and American John Paul Fruttero 6-3 7-5 in the quarter-finals of the US$50,000 Wind Energy Holding Bangkok Open at Rama Gardens Hotel yesterday.
The Thai twins, champions here in 2010, bounced back from 35 in the second set to beat their rivals, winners of the Hua Hin Men’s Futures last week.
“Although we made some mistakes, we did a pretty good job today. We served well from the beginning and after we lost our serves in the second we returned incredibly to break back,” said Sonchat, who reached the semifinal with his brother for the second consecutive year.
“At 35, the level of their serves dropped and we took advantage. When we broke for 45, they seemed to lose momentum and things went our way,” said younger brother Sonchat.
The Thai duo will take on South African Lloyd Harris and Israeli Amir Weintraub, who beat Shuichi Sekiguchi and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan 63 36 106.
“They beat seeded players in reaching the semifinal, so it won’t be easy for us. We want to win for the second time here but we have to focus on the next match first,” added Sonchat.
Joining the siblings in the semifinals are wildcard holders Kittipong Wachiramanowong and Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, who upset Australian Marinmko Matsosevic and Bradley Mousley 7-5 0-6 10-8. The 21-year-old Wishaya is in his first Challenger semifinal.
“We managed a late break to win the first set but our form dropped in the second. We were 28 behind in the super tiebreak but we never gave up,” said the former National Davis Cup player.
In the singles second round, former world No 39 Marinko Matosevic of Australia upset fifth seed Li Zhe of China 62 62 in just 68 minutes. The 31-year-old had been sidelined with a foot injury, resulting in his ranking slip outside the top 300.
“I’m starting to play better and better. The condition is very tough, hot and humid but I handled it well,” said the Australian, who is looking for his first semifinal in a Challenger this year after being stopped at the quarters in Dallas, Puebla, Taipei and Busan. He faces Edan Leshem of Israel, who beat Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 4-6 6-3 7-5
“I practiced with him before the start of the tournament. He is a good young player. But if I play at my level, I should be the favourite. Luckily I’m injury free and I hope to get back into the top 100,” added Matosevic.
Second seed Wu Di of China beat countryman Sin Gao 6-3 6-3 while Slovak Norbert Gombos upset German Marc Sieber 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.
