Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee showed composure as she drubbed the higher-ranked Simona Waltert in the Philippine Women’s Open.
Lanlana Tararudee nabbed her first win at the historic Philippine Women’s Open as she upset 7th seed Simona Waltert, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Monday afternoon.
Despite being briefly delayed by rain late in the second set, Tararudee was able to finish off Waltert who forced the third set after taking advantage of some untimely errors from the Thai player during their well-attended match at Center Court.
Tararudee, who made it to the main draw of the Australian Open through qualifiers earlier this month, ran away with the victory in the decider after zooming to a 4-0 lead.
Despite Waltert’s comeback efforts which included breaking the Thai’s serve in Game 6, 2-4, Tararudee’s momentum was just too much for the Swiss hitter.
In an extended game, Tararudee broke Waltert’s serve to push her to the brink, 5-2.
Tararudee faces the winner of the upcoming match between Polina Kudermetova and Miho Kuramochi in the Round of 16 of the WTA 125 tiff.
Other matches saw Filipino bet Elizabeth Abarquez get outplayed by Mai Hontama, 6-0, 6-0, while doubles matches saw Yi Tsen Cho and I-hsuan Cho weather a challenge from Solana Sierra and Zhu Lin, 6-2, 3-6, 10-4.
The other match saw Filipino pair Kaye Emana and Hannah Maneja drop their game against Darja Semenistaja and Nicole Fossa Huergo, 6-2, 6-2.
Angeline Alcala and Joana Pena also dropped their doubles match against Sara Saito and Li Yu-Yun, 6-0, 6-1.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.