Saturday, July 04, 2009

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn wins junior Wimbledon girls' title

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand won the girls' title at Wimbledon on Saturday, using a steady serve to beat Kristina Mladenovic of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn wins singles at Wimbledon

The Chiang Mai-born, 17, became the first Thai to win a Grand Slam singles trophy. Previously she collected two doubles titles from the 2008 junior US Open and this year's French Open.

Noppawan, who ended the 2008 season as the top junior player, settled score over the French Open junior champion who easily beat her in two sets in a warm-up tournament on grass in Roehampton last week. She finally made amends at the All England Club losing the final to Laura Robson of Great Britain in the final a year ago.

Noppawan landed 69 percent of her first serves against Mladenovic on Court No. 1, far better than her opponent's 40 percent.

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn

Although Noppawan had only nine winners in the match, she was helped by Mladenovic's 39 unforced errors.

Noppawan, who won the girls' doubles title with Elena Bogdan of Romania at the French Open, is also still alive in the doubles competition at the All England Club. She is playing with Sally Peers of Australia.

Noppawan lost in the Wimbledon girls final last year, but then won the girls' doubles title at the U.S. Open with Sandra Roma. In December, she was named girls' ITF World Champion.

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