Bangkok--22 Feb--Dusit Thani Pattaya
Since the official start of the PTT Pattaya Open 2010 at Dusit Thani Pattaya on 7 February, the five-star resort had seen daily excitement leading up to the finals on Sunday, the 14th. Dubbed as “The Return of the Champions”, the women’s pro tennis tournament, recently upgraded to international series status, drew hundreds and hundreds of tennis fans to the resort’s courts that have been the event venue for 19 years now.
In Sunday’s finals, world-ranked no. 9 Vera Zvonareva lived up to the tournament title as she repeated her victory last year defeating Thailand’s tennis pride, Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-4.
The Russian tennis star headed for her next itinerary taking her winnings of US$37,000 (Baht 1,258,000) while Ms. Tanasugarn brought home US$19,000 (Baht 646,000). She later made up for her loss by emerging victorious in the doubles with Marina Erakovic of New Zealand beating Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Ksenia Pervak 7-5, 6-1.
Meanwhile, both Tanasugarn and Zvonareva complimented each other’s performance that evoked roars of chants and cheers from everyone especially from both Thai and Russian fans that packed the courts of Dusit Thani Pattaya overlooking the Gulf of Siam.
The US$220,000 PTT Pattaya Open 2010 was part of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour that brought young tennis stars to Thailand such as Sabine Lisicki of Germany, Ayumi Morita and Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, Jelena Dokic of Australia and Maria Kirilenko of Russia. Their outdoor activities took them to a coral planting, a children’s home and a boat trip to Pattaya’s nearby Koh Larn, also known as Coral Island. The tournament had the support of PTT Public Company Limited, Pattaya City, Sports Authority of Thailand, Chonburi Provincial Administration Organisation, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Sony Ericsson, Philips, Wilson, Tez Tour, Yonex, TOT Public Company Limited, CS Loxinfo, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and Dusit Thani Pattaya as the host hotel for the 19th women’s tennis tour.