Noppawan Lertcheewakarn sails past Darija Jurak into 2nd round – Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2011
Thai Noppawan Lertcheewakarn stomped over the Croatian wild card enterer Darija Jurak in straight sets at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge 2011, an ITF event taking place on the hard courts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She jolted
down a 6-3, 6-3 score line against the 27-year-old Croat to book a round of sixteen place on Monday.
A former top 150, Lertcheewakarn outclassed the Croat, ranked 743rd in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, on their first meeting. After almost an hour and fifteen minutes long marathon, the Thai not only secured
a second round spot but also inched towards the $75,000 prize money.
Currently ranked at 198 in the WTA rankings, Lertcheewakarn stormed into the opening set and wiped out first three games in a row before the Croat could hold on. She then maintained consistency in her game and after dusting away
all the breakpoints faced, the Thai clinched the opener with a 6-3 success. She capitalised fully on the several unforced errors and double faults Jurak committed cashed in the only breakpoint chance to her advantage.
The blooming Thai lost her way in the final set as she gifted away her serve early in the set. However, she bounced back with a fit reply as she not only recovered after few games but broke Jurak’s serve again to seal the set with
a similar 6-3 win. Lertcheewakarn clobbered a better first serve share, spilled fewer errors and earned a superb winning percentage on her first serve share.
20-year-old Lertcheewakarn is eyeing for her maiden year-to-date title. She started the season in good form and made it into the main draw at Auckland WTA International event. The Thai then breezed into the quarters at Sanya ITF
before her form steeply dipped and she fell to a six match losing streak. Regardless of her bad patch, Lertcheewakarn made it into the main draw at the US Open and at Osaka WTA International event through qualifiers.
Up next for the Thai is the third seeded Serb Bojana Jovanovski who dumped Ukrainian Mariya Koryttseva in straight sets to set-up this clash.
Jovanovski broke the Ukrainian’s serve six times and lost her serve once to seal the deal with a 6-4, 6-2 victory on their first meeting. She capitalised fully on the many unforced errors Koryttseva spilled and was all over the
court throughout the match. The Serb formulated a higher first serve share and earned a marvellous winning percentage on it.
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