Nungnadda Wannasukh of Thailand bags NECC-ITF women's title

Pune, Nov 11 (UNI) Sixth seed Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand could not have asked for any better birthday gift today than the NECC-ITF $ 10,000 Women's singles title, the second of her career this year.

The icing on the cake for Nungnadda on her 17th birthday came at the expense of fourth seed Amina Rakim of Kazakhistan whom she conquered in a three setter triumphing by 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour 55 minutes. She was rewarded with six WTA points and $1,568 as the winner's prize money, while Amina received $980 and four WTA points.

The five-hour struggle that she had to wage in the quarter-finals against her Kirgizsthan rival Ksena Palkina and sixth seed Meghha Vakharia of India in the semis, and the nagging headache she has been nursing right from the start of the tournament, finally caught on with the Kazakhistan top player Amina Rakim today. In the end it turned out to be like the spirit was willing but not the flesh for Amina Rakim, who was one of the fittest player in this tournament.

The Kazakh challenger, who was hoping for her first seniors overseas ITF title, started off well breaking her Thai rival's serves in the sixth and eight games to wrap up the first set 6-3 in a matter of just 23 minutes. A medical break taken before the start of the second set, seemed to weigh heavily on her strong serve and volley baseline game. This helped the lurking Thai waiting for the kill, and she broke Amina's serves in the second, fourth and eighth games.

Sensing her opponent's predicament who had committed two double faults in the first and second sets and looked a bit wayward, the Thai challenger sent down some sizzling down the line forehand returns on either side of the net and suddenly slowed down the game forcing Amina to come closer to the net with well placed shots, to finally break her serves and hold on to her own serve to capture the second set in 43 minutes and level up the score.

The Thai star, who had breezed into the finals with straight set victories over unseeded Sanaa Bhambri in the quarter-finals and a shock win over top seed Isha Lakhani of Mumbai in the semifinals, sensing her chances, broke through a fast tiring Amina Rakim's serves in the fifth and seventh games. She seized the laxity on Amina's part, and cashed on a feeble volley to drop the ball just over the nets and followed this up with a sizzling down the line forehand return for a 40-30 lead to take full grip over the game.

With Amina wildly hitting out in a last chance for a come back, it was all over. The Indian Davis cupper Mahesh Bhupathi, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes.

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