Thais put up a poor show
Thailand lost to favourites Japan 3-0 in the opening tie of the Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 yesterday.
Peangtarn Plipuech went down to Kurumi Nara 6-0, 6-2 in the opening singles before Luksika Kumkhum conceded the second point to Nao Hibino with a 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 defeat. Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Peangtarn then suffered a 6-3, 6-3 defeat at the hands of Makoto Ninomiya and Miyu Kato in the doubles rubber.
South Korea also defeated Taiwan 3-0 in the other Pool B match at RK Khanna Tennis Stadium in New Delhi yesterday.
While Peangtarn was no match for the consistent Nara who dropped just two games in the opening singles, there were high hopes that Thailand No.1 and 99thranked Luksika would keep the country in the tie.
Luksika, who reached the third round at the Australian Open last month, started off promisingly by battling past her 90thranked opponent Hibino 7-5 in the first set.
Very little separated the two players in the second set which went to tie-break. Hibino was more consistent when it most mattered and pushed the tie to the third set.
While Hibino grew in stature, Luksika’s game was undone by a staggering number of unforced errors and the Thai failed to win a single game in the decider.
“I am very disappointed that I couldn’t get the point for Thailand as I had a chance to do it,” said Luksika.
“I won the first set and had a chance to close out the match. I could not play my usual game today and made too many unforced errors.
“I didn’t think that Hibino had played her best tennis either but during the third set she did not make any mistakes,” added Luksika.
Thailand play Taiwan while Japan face South Korea in the second Pool B matches today.