BANGKOK, 26 September 2003 — Top Thai Paradorn Srichaphan took sweet revenge for a past Danish disappointment, rallying past a charged-up Kenneth Carlsen 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to roar into the quarterfinals of his home Thailand Open.
Paradorn’s power kept a full-house crowd enthralled as the fourth-seeded local advanced at the $550,000 event, a tournament brought to life for this year’s inaugural edition as a result of his watershed performances over the past few years in the game.
The Asian ace, 11th in the world and holder of three titles, will Friday fight for a semifinal spot as he faces Ivan Ljubicic, the sixth seed who ousted teenaged Croatian compatriot Mario Ancic 6-1, 6-4.
With fans willing him on, Paradorn produced a command performance to get out of trouble and defeat Carlsen to avenge a loss in the semifinals in Tokyo a year ago in two tie-break sets. It took more than two hours.
The Thai had to battle to salvage his chances, saving five break points and escaping eight deuce situations in a marathon seventh game of the opening set.
After claiming the opener in 49 minutes, Paradorn still faced a struggle in a set where the first three games lasted nearly 30 minutes. The home player and the blond Viking ended it in a tie-breaker, with Paradorn fighting back from 0-3 as the frustration factor grew for Carlsen, the 2002 Tokyo winner whose bests this season have been a trio of quarterfinals. Paradorn’s fans screamed in delight as the Dane dished out a return long to set up match point. A backhand to the net sealed the win for the Asian, whose gave a traditional bow to the crowd.
In the second set it was tough, especially being down 0-4 in the tiebreaker.
Paradorn was joined as a winner by third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya, now over a fever and with too much game for American Brian Vahaly 7-5, 6-4.
Former world Number one Moya arrived in Asia suffering physically after a tough Spanish Davis Cup victory weekend at home. But two matches into his campaign for the title at the Impact Arena, he is again looking his formidable self. Finland’s only ATP player Jarkko Nienimen posted his first quarterfinal showing since Long Island in August, ripping up Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 6-4, 6-2.
Henin-Hardenne and
Clijsters Through
In Leipzig, Germany, French and US Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne strengthened her bid to take the world number one ranking from her compatriot Kim Clijsters with a 6-1, 6-2 demolition of Denisa Chladkova yesterday.
The second seed showed no hint of the exhaustion or back problems she suffered before beating Clijsters in the Flushing Meadow final 18 days ago, overcoming the Czech in less than an hour to reach the last eight of the $585,000 Leipzig Grand Prix.
It was her first match since taking the US Open title and proved a fine start on the indoor carpet surface, on which Henin has been least successful.
Top-seeded Clijsters, who should earn the chance of revenge over Henin on Sunday, began with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jelena Dokic, the former top 10 player from Yugoslavia.
Clijsters, who arrived from Australia only two days ago, did not look entirely convincing.
Earlier Anna-Lena Groeneveld, the latest teenager making a push to become a main tour regular, was near to landing her first top-20 victim before narrowly failing to reach her first quarterfinal.
The 18-year-old US-based German lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Nadia Petrova, the sixth-seeded French Open semifinalist from Russia, but provided her home crowd with glimpses of an encouraging future.
Davis Cup Finalists Face Tough Challenges in First Round Next Year
In London, Australia and Spain, who are to meet in the final of this year’s Davis Cup in Melbourne at the end of November were yesterday handed difficult first round ties for next year’s competition.
Australia, who have won the Davis Cup 27 times, face seven-time champions Sweden. The Australians, who came from the brink of defeat against Switzerland in the semifinals on the weekend, have the choice of venue.
Spain, who ousted Argentina in the semifinals, were drawn against the Czech Republic, with the unseeded Czechs deciding where they will play.
