IPOH: Top seed Lanlana Tararudee (pix) from Thailand lived up to expectations when she emerged the winner of the ITF World Tennis Tour Women W15 Round 1 singles competition at the Perak Tennis Arena today.
The player ranked 371 by the Women’s Tennis Association had to work hard to beat Jaeda Daniel from the United States in three sets, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, in two hours and three minutes in the final .
Lanlana started strongly when she won the first set in style 6-0 but Jaeda did not give up easily and improved her performance in the second set to win 6-3.
However, Jaeda’s determination was not enough to prevent Lanlana from winning the title when she won the final set 6-2.
As the champion, Lanlana took home prize money of RM10,418 while Jaeda had to be satisfied with RM6,511. Both of them were also awarded medals.
The victory also put Lanlana , who is ranked 142nd in the ITF, in a good position to face the second round in Kuala Lumpur which is scheduled to start tomorrow.
The tournament organised by the Perak Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA) attracted a total of 79 players from 20 countries including Ukraine, Taiwan, the United States, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Kazakhstan and hosts Malaysia. – Bernama