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Tanasugarn, Sugiyama set up all-Asian clash
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn set up a mouthwatering all-Asian fourth round clash with Japan's Ai Sugiyama at Wimbledon on Friday.
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn set up a mouthwatering all-Asian fourth round clash with Japan's Ai Sugiyama at Wimbledon on Friday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over 27th seed Australian Alicia Molik.
The 27-year-old Thai fought back from 3-0 down in the second set to clinch victory and reach the fourth round here for the sixth time in seven yea.
Sugiyama earlier made short work of France's Marion Bartoli in a 6-1, 6-2 win and Tanasugarn knows she will have to be at the top of her game to get past the 11th seed and claim a spot in the quarter-finals for the first time.
"Ai is a very tough opponent," said Tanasugarn.
"She's fit and she gets every ball back. Her strokes are getting harder and faster all the time.
"Every year I feel I have to do better than the previous year but I just have to concentrate on my game and see where it takes me."
Tanasugarn took full advantage of poor serving from Molik to claim the first set before the Australian fought back with some powerful returns to seize the initiative early in the second set, breaking the Thai's serve in the second game.
"In the first set, Molik gave me a chance because she had a problem with her first serve," said Tanasugarn, who is 66th in the world rankings.
"It is her most powerful weapon and when it went in it was really affecting my game.
"But at the beginning of the second set she started to serve much better.
"You can't help it when she is playing that well and I just tried to concentrate on my own game.
"I ran for every ball to break back against her. When the match got tougher, her first serve stopped working again and I think the key game was at 4-4 when there were lots of deuces.
"If she had won that game that would have put a lot of pressure on me."
The Thai No. 1 said she had recovered from a knee problem that affected her at in Birmingham earlier in June, where she was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by France's Emilie Loit in the quarter-finals.
"I have recovered very well since then," added Tanasugarn. "I have no injury problems at all after my knee injury in Birmingham and I have been lucky with that this week.
"I am happy the way I played today. I love to play on grass - all the girls here are tough and I just have to keep concentrating."
