Thais wallop RP netters in SEAG men's doubles

Thailand bagged the men's and mixed doubles at the expense of the Philippines at the close the 24th Southeast Asian Games tennis tournament in Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand. Siblings Sanchai and Somchat Ratiwatana first took out the Filipino American pair of Cecil Mamiit and Erick Taino, who started sluggishly in the opening set before going down, 2-6, 4-6, in the men's doubles finals, a report from the Philippine delegation said. Sanchai then joined Napaporn Tongsalee in subduing Mamiit and Denise Dy, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), to annex the mixed doubles crown. The Thais capped a big day at His Majesty's 80th Birthday Anniversary Tennis Center with veteran Tamarine Tanasugran and Tongsalee crushing the Indonesian tandem of Sandy Gumulya and Romanaa Tedjakusuma, 6-2, 6-3, in capturing the women's doubles gold, their third for the day. Mamiit and Taino were actually 2-1 up in the first set after breaking the Thai duo in the third game. But the Ratiwatanas, the top seeds, proved very resilient and waxed hot in the next, using their rock-solid net game to repeatedly pound the Pinoy netters. With Mamiit serving, the Thais managed to break again in the sixth on the way to clinching the set in 31 minutes. Although the second set was much closer, Mamiit and Taino usually lost in the key exchanges against the Ratiwatanas, who thrived behind the noisy support of the hometown crowd. Dy proved to be the Philippine weakest link in the mixed doubles, especially on service returns, and became the main target of the Thai pair. This was particularly true in the second-set tiebreak, with Ratiwatana and Tongsalee scoring four straight points off the Filipino bet from a 2-all deadlock that settled the issue. The Filipinos closed out their tennis campaign with a production of one gold, one silver and four bronze medals, a dip from their 3-1-3 haul in the 2005 Manila SEA Games. - GMANews.TV