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Asian players continue Australian run
Posted: Thursday January 20, 2000 11:51 AM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Still brimming with confidence after Thailand's charge at the Hopman Cup final, Tamarine Tanasugarn breezed into the third round of the Australian Open with a 7-5, 6-4 win Thursday over Canadian Jana Nejedly. The No. 1 Thai was 5-2 up in the first set before Nejedly rallied to level at 5-5. But when it counted her serve was strong, helping Tanasugarn to win the first set and grab a decisive break in the ninth game of the second set. Japan's Ai Sugiyama and her doubles partner Julie Halard-Decugis of France continued their winning run, advancing to the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Nannie De Villiers and Jessica Steck of South Africa. The tenth seeded combination won a warmup tournament in Sydney last week, dispensing with Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce 6-0, 6-3 in the final. Another Japanese combination, however, was ousted in the first round with Shinobu Asagoe and Yuka Yoshida losing 6-1, 7-6 (3) to Asa Carlsson and Emilie Loit on an outside court. Carlsson and Sugiyama are expected to meet Friday in a third-round singles clash. Tanasugarn said the experience in Hopman Cup, where she beat a series of top ranked players including Jelena Dokic, Barbara Schett, Henrieta Nagyova and Sugiyama, has only helped her at this tournament. "I think it just helped my whole game. I took three months off to study full time so it was good to get some early wins," she said. Tanasugarn said she hopes her success will raise the profile of tennis in Thailand, adding that there are already signs it is happening. "More juniors are playing now which is good, but boxing and soccer still remain popular," she said. Nothing seems to overwhelm Tanasugarn, including personal congratulations from the King of Thailand as well as the Prime Minister after Thailand's Hopman Cup performance. She next plays Sandrine Testud, who she beat last year at Wimbledon to make the fourth round. Although it was Testud she lost to in the fourth-round at the Australian Open in 1998, which was her most successful Grand Slam tournament Down Under to date.
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