Date: 30th Sept 2007

Thai twins, Tursonov clinch the Thai titles

Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana became the first Thai players to claim the Thailand Open after a victory over French duo Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut in a close final of men doubles 3-6, 7-5 (10-7).

Thai twins finished the tournament in style in front of the home crowd. The twins took 1 hour 27 minutes to do it and kept their composure to the end before defeating the No. 3 seeded French pair.

“We are very happy to be able to win our first ATP title, particularly at home. We’d like to say thank you to the crowd who made us feel warm and confident,” they said over loudspeakers at the end of the event.

“We had hoped a bit to win before the final but we weren’t one hundred per cent confident, because we thought they were better than us,” said the twins who will receive $US26,550 prize money.

In men singles, No. 6 seed Dimitry Tursunov ended Benjamin Becker’s dream run in the Open in two straight sets.

The Russian was quick to come out of the block before finishing off Becker without a reply 6-2, 6-1.

“I felt from the start that he (Tursunov) was on his game, but I was happy with my performance and didn’t feel that I played badly,” said Becker who defeated high seeded players such as Carlos Moya and Tomas Berdych in the early rounds.

Meanwhile, the winner Tursunov said that he learned a lot during his one week in Thailand but at the moment still could not commit whether to come back to defend his title next year.

“I would love to come back next year and spend a bit more time here. I’ve been enjoying the experience and Thai culture but it will depend on my schedule and traveling plan next season,” said Tursunov.

The Thailand Open 2007 took place at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani between 22 – 30 September 2007.