Danai Udomchoke surprises Fabio Fognini in opening round clash – PTT Thailand Open 2011
Earning a wildcard in the tournament, the 30-year-old local veteran, Danai Udomchoke, stunned the world number thirty nine, Fabio Fognini of Italy in the opening round of the PTT Thailand Open on Monday afternoon.
Being played at the indoor hard courts of the Impact Arena, in Bangkok, Thailand, the contest witnessed amazing skills to dispose of the fifth seeded Fognini from the competition. He wrapped up the three-setter 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, to
register his fifth victory of the current year and booked a berth in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The fifth seeded Italian hung in the contest for one hour and fifty eight minutes of play, before he eventually succumbed in the third set. Fognini was off to a sloppy start in the game, dropping the opening set early to fall on
the back foot straight away. He made his way back in the competition by pocketing the second set but completely lost his steam in the final set to let Udomchoke away with an emphatic victory in the end.
The contest appeared fairly poised, with both players straining extremely hard to get the better of one another. Udomchoke’s serve precision reached just 59 per cent in the matchup but the Thai contestant reeled off 31 out of 44
first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner in the end. He converted five of his eight break opportunities in the contest to outplay the fifth seeded Italian, who registered just three serve breaks in the entire matchup to finish on the losing
side.
The opener took a steady start from both contestants, with no serve breaks been witnessed in the opening eight games. Udomchoke drew the first blood in the ninth game to serve out of the first set at 6-4, getting 1-0 in the contest
but committed some silly mistakes in the following set to let Fognini back in business. The fifth seed nailed two break points to take the second set at 6-3 but it all went in vain as the Thai contestant blasted him in the final set with three break point
conversions to conclude victory at 6-2.
Udomchoke will either take on the Australian qualifier, Greg Jones, or the unseeded German, Matthias Bachinger, in the second round to fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the PTT Thailand Open. Jones and Bachinger will compete
against each other on Tuesday afternoon and the winner will go one-on-one against Udomchoke in the second round.
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