Lu/Udomchoke stun Butorac/Hanley to grab title – Thailand Open 2012
Asian wild card entrants, Yen-Hsun Lu and Danai Udomchoke, clinched their first team title by upsetting the fourth seeds, Eric Butorac and Paul Hanley, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the final of Thailand Open. This ATP World Tour
250 hard court event was being held in Bangkok.
It was the first tour level title for the Thai number one, Udomchoke, and second for Chinese Taipei’s best player, Lu. It was not expected from this low ranked Asian pair to claim this title in the presence of some of the top doubles
teams but they surprised everyone with their superb performance.
The contest was begun steadily by both teams, as they did not drop their serve in the first seven games and took the score to 4-3 in favour of Lu and Udomchoke. The Taiwanese-Thai combination struck in the eighth one and capitalised
on that advantage to seal it 6-3.
Lu and Udomchoke gave a solid performance on their first serves, keeping the percentage at 84 and pocketing 18 of the 26 points on them. The right-handers put away both break threats they came across and availed one of the two
chances they created in the opener.
In the second set, Lu/Udomchoke and Butorac/Hanley started by holding their opening serves and taking the score to 1-1. The Taiwanese-Thai duo nailed a break in the third game and won its subsequent serve to earn a 3-1 advantage.
Lu and Udomchoke maintained their lead till the end and grabbed the second set 6-4.
The 59th ranked tandem hit one ace and the same number of double fault, keeping its first serve percentage at 75 and securing 18 of the 21 points on them.
During the post match press conference, Udomchoke stated, "I was at my happiest moment during match point because I’ve always dreamed of holding a Thailand Open trophy in the 10 years I’ve played the tournament. I feel very proud
of having done it today."
Lu added, "I feel very happy, there’s no reason to be upset at all. I'm very happy for Danai [Udomchoke] to win on his home ground. I don't know how I can explain how I feel, I'm just very happy and I appreciate playing with my
friend. This is another experience we go through as friends and I’m happy."
Butorac and Haney were bidding to win their 14th and 27th ATP World Tour Doubles title respectively.
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