Tokyo, Jan 28: Thai ace Tamarine Tanasugarn fended off an injury scare to beat Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina 7-6 (7/1), 6-2 in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament here Tuesday. Tamarine twisted her right ankle while warming up for the match and needed court-side treatment to tape the ankle. She quickly fell behind 0-3 and was forced to save a set point before eventually triumphing in a tie-breaker. "It was during warm up. I twisted my ankle a little bit. But I was lucky it was really not a bad, serious problem, so I managed to play the match today," said the 25-year-old Thai. "The first couple of games my ankle gave me a problem, but after that it was getting better and better. It was gone during the second set." Tamarine was forced to save a set point at 4-5 and 30-40 in the 10th game of the first set, but she was never challenged after that, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the tie-breaker and a 3-0 lead in the second set.
Bureau Report