Noppawan Lertcheewakarn to defend her title in Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge this week – Tennis News
World number 208, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, will take part in the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge which will be contested this week at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa. The Thai professional will take part in the contest as the
defending champion having won the trophy last year after she stunned Kristina Mladenovic in the final with straight sets score line 7-5, 6-4.
She stated in the press conference that followed the draws ceremony, “This year, things are going to be tough for me as I will have to defend my points here. It will be like a mountain to climb, but I know I can do it.” She further
added, “It feels nice to be back in Dubai. Last year was my first time and I went home with a trophy. Hopefully, I can repeat the same this year as well.” Talking about living alongside other Thai participants, the defending champion said, “We’ve rented a
condo here and all of us will be staying together during the week.” It will not be an easy task for sure but the capabilities of the 21-year-old Thai professional are good enough to secure her all the points from the tournament and help her sustain her ranking.
The draw ceremony featured the likes of the last year’s finalist, Bojana Jovanovski, who wasn’t the successful contender from the final two. The winner of the 2003 edition of the tournament, Jelena Jankovic, who has enjoyed the
reign as the number one player in the world as well during her peak seasons. Other members included the Tennis Emirates Board Member, Zainab Al Ansari, Managing Director of Al Habtoor Group, Mohammad Al Mazroui, and the ITF Supervisor Hani Al Khafief.
Three players from the Top-100 category are also taking part in the tournament. The likes of the 52nd ranked Irina Camelia Begu will accompany the 20-year-old Serb Jovanovski and the 81st ranked Nina Bratchikova.
Former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, stated to a media reporter, “There are some pretty interesting first-round matches lined up here and I would ask people to head here and watch some good tennis.”
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