Pattaya Open Pro Tennis Championship shows the attraction of Women’s Play Russian took the singles title; Thai favorite teams up with Eastern European to capture doubles title

The US$ 200,000 PTT Pattaya Open, equivalent to approximately 7.7 million baht, is a professional women’s tennis tournament and is part of the Sony Ericsson WTA World Tour. It is an internationally accepted event and was held at the Dusit Resort in Pattaya on Feb 7 - 15.

There were many leading tennis players who competed including Vera Zvonareva (ranked 5th in the world) and Nadia Pethrowa (ranked 10th) from Russia as well as Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark (ranked 13th) and Dominika Cibulkova from Slovakia (ranked 18th).

Apart from world ranked players, there were also two former Pattaya Open champions, Shahar Peer from Israel (2006 champion) and Austrian Sybille Bammmer (2007 champion) as well as all-star tennis champions Kimiko Krumm Date and Sania Mirza from India.  

Both Thai women tennis players, 17 year-old Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Noppawan Lertcheewaka lost in the frst main draw. Only Tanasugarn, ranked 41 in the world, was able to make it to the fnal eight.

In the singles’ final match held on Feb 15, the 24 year-old Vera Zvonareva from Russia defeated 22 year-old Sania Mirza from India in two straight sets, 7-5 and 6-1, to receive the championship title and collect the prize money of US$37,000 (1.3 million baht). Sania Mirza, runner up champion, received US$ 19,000 (665,000 baht).  

As for the women’s fnal doubles match, Tanasugarn paired up with Yaroslava Shvedova from Kazakhstan to defeat Yuliya Beygelzimer from Ukraine and Vitalia Diatchenko from Russia by 6-3, 6-2. They received a cheque of US$ 11,000, approximately US$ 5,500 each (190,000 baht). The runner up champion for the women’s doubles received a cheque of US$ 2,875 (100,000 baht) each. Tanasugarnsaid that she was very proud to have won her frst women’s doubles title. She also thanked Yaroslava Shvedova, her partner, who played really well with her. She also thanked her team members and all of her fans who came to support her making her win memorable.

The PTT Pattaya Tennis Open held at the Dusit Resort, Pattaya was officially concluded on Feb 15 with Mr. Suwat Litapanlob, President of the Thai Lawn Tennis Association, Mr. Sulaphon Pontadsirikul, Governor of Chonburi, Mr. Itthiphol Kunplome, Mayor of Pattaya and Mr. Prasert Boonsumphun, Director of PTT Company Limited presenting the awards to the winning players.