Siegemund outlasts Wang in marathon

Siegemund outlasts Wang in marathon
Laura Siegemund of Germany reached the quarter-finals of the US$267,082 Allied Thailand Open tennis tournament, edging Wang Xiyu of China in a more-than-four-hour-long, three-set marathon at Arena Hua Hin on Wednesday.
Siegemund's 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/1) victory in the second-round battle has lined her up for a clash with the winner of the duel between Wang Xinyu of China and Rebeka Masarova of Spain.
Siegemund won the opening set 7-6 (7/3), but Wang was back on level footing with a 6-4 victory in the second.
However, the 36-year-old German came back strong and claimed the third-set tiebreak for a 7-6 (7/1) win to become the first player to march into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
In Tuesday's late-night matches, Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew, ranked 195th in the world, lost to Slovak Republic's Rebecca Sramkova in the first round.
Mananchaya conceded the first set 2-6 before bouncing back to take the second 6-2, but world No.102 Sramkova won the deciding set 6-4 to make it to the second round.
Mananchaya received $2,890 or around 96,355 baht for her efforts after being knocked out in the first round.
Meanwhile, world No.184 Lanlana Tararudee, the only Thai player left in the tournament, will face Japan's world No.130 Mai Hontama in the second round on Thursday.
Lanlana said on Wednesday: "Mai Hontama performed very well in her victory over top seed Dayana Yastremska in the first round.
"She has a very aggressive return shot. The most important thing is that she has already beaten a top-class player like Dayana in straight sets.
"I have nothing to lose in the match with Hontama. I will do my best. I want the tennis fans to come and cheer me at the venue."