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HONG KONG, Sept 26: Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan suffered a shock first round loss to big-serving American Taylor Dent at the 400,000 US dollar Hong Kong Open, while local favourite Michael Chang also crashed to Spain’s Alex Corretja.
The losses leave Korean Lee Hyung-taik as Asia’s only representative left in the tournament.
Srichaphan, the first native Asian to be seeded at the Hong Kong Open, never fully recovered from a sluggish start going down 4-6, 6-0, 5-7.
The in-form Srichaphan, arguably the tour’s most improved player this year leaping more than 80 places to lie 31 in the champions race, fought back brilliantly to sweep the second set with trademark precision groundstrokes.
Although the eighth-seeded Thai, who arrived in Hong Kong from England after narrowly failing to help Thailand qualify for the Davis Cup world group, saved one match point at 4-5 he eventually succumbed, not helped by several dubious line calls in a tense deciding set.
However, Srichaphan sportingly refused to blame the linesmen. “It was tough as it was at night and the balls were going fast. Everyone makes mistakes and its ok.”
“It’s hard to get here two days before and play. I had one extra rest day yesterday because it rained. But it was a close match and Taylor is a good player.”
Srichaphan will now focus on the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, where he is a heavy favourite to take the gold medal.
“Ah yeah, I’m supposed to win that!” he said with a smile. “A lot of people expect me to win that but there are some good players like Lee and (Takao) Suzuki. I’ll have to play well to win that.”
Earlier, sentimental favourite Michael Chang’s love affair with Hong Kong ended ingloriously when the American was sent crashing to a 6-7, 4-6 defeat at the hands of Spaniard Alex Corretja.
“I wasn’t nervous today. Just came up a little short. I had a serve for a set point in the first set... but I just couldn’t win the key points,” said a dejected Chang.
Asked whether it would be his last appearance in Hong Kong, Chang said: “Probably. I’ve played this event for a number of years and this is probably my last time playing in Hong Kong... I’ve got a lot of good memories here.”
Despite being roared on by a partisan crowd of about 1,200 fans, Chang who has strongly hinted his 12th consecutive appearance in the event would likely be his last, went down to clay-court specialist Corretja.
Chang has won 34 ATP titles, with his most famous win being the French Open as a 17-year-old 1989.
Thursday’s results: (x denotes seeded player):
1st Round: Carlos Moya (Spa x3) bt Jan Michael Gambill (USA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Wayne Arthurs (Aus) bt Jan Vacek (Cze) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg x5) bt Magnus Norman (Swe) 6-3, 6-4; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa x 2) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-2, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Cecil Mamit (USA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Jeff Morrison (USA) bt Takao Suzuki (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2; Marat Safin (Rus x1) bt Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) 6-2, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez (Spa) bt Dominik Hrbarty (Svk) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3); Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu x7) bt Agustin Calleri (Arg) 7-5, 6-2; Alex Corretja (Spa x4) bt Michael Chang (USA) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4; Jerome Golmard (Fra) bt Karol Kucera (Svk) 6-3, 6-3; Antony Dupuis (Fra) bt Michael Kohlman (Ger) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Taylor Dent (USA) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha x8) 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 champion beaten
BALI (Indonesia): Top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand crashed to a 2-6 6-4 6-2 second-round defeat at the hands of Paraguay’s Rossana Neffa-de los Rios at the Wismilak International on Thursday.
Fourth seed Nicole Pratt of Australia was also toppled, going down 7-5 6-3 to Spain’s Marta Marrero.
But second seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario secured a comfortable 6-2 7-6(8-6) win over fellow Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.
In an all-American clash, qualifier Sarah Taylor reached the quarter-finals when Corina Morariu retired with tendinitis in her right shoulder as Taylor led 6-2 1-2, and there were also wins for Russians Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Tanasugarn began strongly, but then failed to respond when Neffa-de los Rios raised her game. Her strong groundstrokes frustrated Tanasugarn, who praised her opponent but admitted it was difficult to adjust to the court after receiving a first round bye.
“I have to give credit to my opponent because she played very well,” said Tanasugarn. “I was playing pretty well, but she changed her game and attacked more and made less unforced errors. It was my first match, too, and that’s very important. If you pass that one you get more rhythm.”
Sanchez-Vicario appeared to be cruising to victory as she swept the first set and then served at 5-4 in the second. But Ruano Pascual levelled at 5-5 and Sanchez-Vicario had to draw on her trademark tenacity to edge through the tiebreak.
“I went for too much,” said Sanchez-Vicario of her lapse. “I wanted to win the point too early and made some mistakes. I played really well until the middle of the second set, but then I relaxed a little bit and missed some volleys and some shots close to the line. In the tiebreak I played well and put pressure on her and was able to win.”
Thursday’s results:
2nd rd: Rossana Neffa-de los Rios (Par) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha x1) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Marta Marrero (Spa) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus x4) 7-5, 6-3; Sarah Taylor (USA) bt Corina Morariu (USA) 6-2 1-2 retired; Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) bt Antonella Serra Zanetti (Ita) 6-1, 7-5; Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra) 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 6-2; Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spa x2) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) —AFP
