Thailand Open: Swiss teenager upsets seed as other favourites advance
ALL of the six matches at the Thailand Open in Hua Hin featured seeded players, with five of the winners coming into the tournament as the top eight ranked players. The final two matches of the first round was played, while the first four of eight Round of 16 matches were completed as the quarter finals begin to take shape.
The only upset of the day was 283rd ranked Swiss player, Leonie Kung‘s straight sets win over seventh seed and world number 70, Zhu Lin of China. The 19-year-old was far too strong for her highly fancied and more experienced opponent, downing her in 70 minutes courtesy of a 6-3 6-1 rout. In the match she looked like a top 100 player, recording an impressive 74.1 per cent serving efficiency, as well as 65 and 64.3 per cent points won on her first and second serve. By contrast, Lin only managed 48.3 and 39.1 per cent respectively, breaking just the once on her way to just a total of four games, while Kung broke five times and created 10 opportunities. She won 55.8 per cent of her total return points to go with her 64.8 per cent of her total service points which was a comprehensive victory in the end.
In other Round of 16 results, it was better news for the two top Chinese players as Wang Qiang and Zheng Saisai both made their way into their respective quarter finals. Qiang defeated Katarzyna Kawa of Poland in straight sets, an almost identical scoreline to Saisai’s win over En-Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei. It was an all-Asian battle between eighth seed Japanese player, Nao Hibino and the sole remaining home nation representative in Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech, though the former showed no signs of giving the crowd what they wanted, smashing the world number 192 6-0 6-1 in just 53 minutes.
In the two first round matches, number one seed and tournament favourite, Elina Svitolina advanced through to the next stage courtesy of a 6-2 6-4 victory over Netherlands’ Bibiane Schoofs. Meanwhile, fifth seed Pole Magna Linette triumphed over Svitolina’s compatriot, Kateryna Bondarenko in straight sets, 6-2 6-2 to move through to the Round of 16.
Round of 16 Results:
[3] Q. Wang (CHN) defaeted K. Kawa (POL) 6-3 6-4
[4] S. Zheng (CHN) defeated E. Liang (TAI) 6-4 6-3
L. Kung (SUI) defeated [7] L. Zhu (CHN) 6-3 6-1
[8] N. Hibino (JPN) defeated P. Plipuech (THA) 6-0 6-1
Round of 32 Results:
[1] E. Svitolina (UKR) defeated B. Schoofs (NED) 6-2 6-4
[5] M. Linette (POL) defeated K. Bondarenko (UKR) 6-2 6-2
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