Lertcheewakarn crashed out in opener, Tananta continued her slump

In the remaining opening rounds at the final leg of “ASB Pro Circuit” in Wellington, New Zealand, Indonesian Lavinia Tananta continued her slump despite her fighting spirit against qualifier Hao Jie of China and she eventually bowed out 2-6, 6-3, 2-6. The biggest upset occurred when another qualifier Kim So-Jung outclassed third seed Noppawan “Nok” Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 6-3, 6-3. Experienced Kim overwhelmed Lertcheewakarn by hitting consistent strokes from the baseline.

Meanwhile top seed Hwang I-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei saw-off Japanese qualifier Sakiko Shimizu 6-1, 6-4. Second seed Montinee “Ploy” Tangphong from Thailand defeated another Japanese qualifier Etsuko Kitazaki 6-3, 6-3. Fifth seed Chae Kyung-Yee of South Korea denied the challenge of local wild card Dianne Hollands and barely won 6-4, 7-5. On the other hand, local wild card Kairangi Vano showed tremendous ferocious fight but still lost to Alenka Hubacek of Australia 5-7, 6-2, 6-7(5). Recent junior grad Yang Zi-Jun from Hong Kong dispatched struggling Thai qualifier Nungnadda “Jib” Wannasuk 6-2, 6-2. Then two qualifiers, Lizaan Du Plessis of South Africa and American Sabrina Capannolo claimed their opening round victories. Du Plessis edged past Japanese Ai Yamamoto 6-1, 6-4 while Capannolo fought back to beat local wild card Leela Beattie 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-1.

In doubles, all seeded pairs were forced to exit in the quarter-finals today. It began with top seed pair Ana-Clara Duarte/Tananta stumbled as they were beaten by duo Kim So-Jung/Ayaka Maekawa (South Korea/Japan) 0-6, 6-4, 8-10. Also leaving the competition, second seed pair Hao Jie/Zhang Ling (China/Hong Kong) after they booted out by South Korean pair, Chae Kyung-Yee/Kim Hae-Sung 2-6, 4-6. Third seed duo Alison Bai/Renee Binnie of Australia bowed out to wild card pair, Dianne Hollands/Alenka Hubacek 2-6, 3-6. Finally, fourth seed duo from Thailand, Tangphong/Wannasuk lost to Jessy Rompies/Remi Tezuka 6-1, 4-6, 7-10.

Photos of Lavinia Tananta by Adji Soedibjo & Kairangi Vano by tennisnz.com