Thailand, China take 1-0 lead

Hyderabad, Nov 24 (UNI) Thailand and China took 1-0 lead in the second round tie winning the women's singles matches against Japan and Philippines respectively in the Asia Hopman Cup Tennis Championship here today.

Shuai Zhang of China overcame the challenge of Japanese rival Tomoko Yonemura 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the group-A women's singles match, while in group-B match Thai girl Nudnida Luangnam defeated Czarina Arevalo of Philippines 6-4, 6-4 in 76 minutes.

Luangnam defeated lowly ranked Czarina. Luangnam broke her rival in the eighth and ninth games to win the first set. In the second set, she won the second and the third games.

Zhang, who lost to Sania Mirza yesterday, overcame the challenge of Japanese rival Yonemura today. Broken in the third game, she came back with vengeance to break Yonemura in the fourth and the sixth games to win the first set.

Yonemura managed to break Zhang in the tenth game to win the second set and level 1-1. In the third set, Zhang after losing the second game came back to win the fifth and the ninth games to clinch the match.

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