Top seeds Elyse Tse and Yuka Hosoki won their first doubles title together in February, and they reached the final in Nakhon Pathom with straight sets wins in the earlier rounds. They faced the Thai fourth seeds, Patcharin Cheapchandej and Kamonwan Yodpetch, and they started with a great rally that Tse lost when she hit a backhand into the net. A couple of winners from Yodpetch took the score to 0-40 and, although Cheapchandej’s inside-out forehand return of Tse’s next serve went wide, she flicked away a forehand volley to complete the break.
Cheapchandej then finished a hold to love with a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines before Hosoki held to love as well. Yodpetch hit a lovely forehand down the line on the way to holding in turn, and Tse hit the only ace of the match, out wide against Cheapchandej, on the way to getting herself on the board.
There was a point in the next game that simply didn’t make any sense to me, no matter how many times I replayed it. At 15-15 Hosoki hit what appeared to be an easy forehand volley, which most definitely landed safely in court, yet the point was given to the Thai pair and Cheapchandej went on to hold serve. Hosoki was taken to deuce when Tse was forced to hit an overhead volley into the net, and Cheapchandej missed an absolute sitter of a chance to break again when she thumped a forehand volley into the net.
The fantastic rally on Yodpetch’s first point ended with a forehand volley from Hosoki after just six shots, but the top seeds lost the next three points before Yodpetch completed the hold with another gorgeous forehand winner down the line. The break at the start of the match meant that Tse was now serving to keep her team in the set, but three forehand volleys into the net from Hosoki, as well as a double fault from Tse, ruined that chance. The set had lasted for 27 minutes.
Tse smashed away a volley to end a fantastic rally and take the score to deuce when Cheapchandej started the second set, but an unreturnable serve to Hosoki on the deciding point ruined any chance of a break. The best rally in the match came when Tse served next, lasting for 18 shots before it was Yodpetch’s turn to miss out on a gimme, this one by hitting an inside-out backhand volley wide, and the left-hander went on to hold safely.
Yodpetch gave away a deuce on her own serve when she hit a backhand into the net, but a fabulous soft backhand volley from Cheapchandej was enough to win the deciding point. It was then Hosoki’s turn to contribute to the highlights package, starting her game with a beautiful forehand lob down the tramlines. She conceded a deuce with a double fault, and Yodpetch missed another certain break when she hit a backhand volley into the net.
Cheapchandej held slightly more comfortably next up than she had in her first game, and Tse looked to be well on the way to doing the same at 40-0. However, she hit poor forehands to lose two rallies with Cheapchandej, and Yodpetch won the point in-between when her backhand hit the net cord and cannoned into Hosoki. Yodpetch got the deciding point safely back in play, and Cheapchandej secured the vital break with a beautiful backhand volley down the left-hand side of the court.
A great cross-court backhand return by Hosoki off Yodpetch forced the server to hit her cross-court backhand into the net to concede two break points, but Yodpetch forced Tse into a return error before getting to deuce with a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines. There was a great short rally on the deciding point, and it was Yodpetch who came out on top when she hit a lovely cross-court forehand winner.
That left Hosoki serving to keep her team alive, but another nice winner from Yodpetch, this one an inside-out backhand volley, took them to deuce and gave the Thais a Championship point. A beautiful forehand return down the tramlines from Cheapchandej took the decider and sealed the victory after an hour and three minutes. The final score was 6-3, 6-2.