LookAtVietnam – Defending champion Nguyen Thuy Dung met little resistance during her final match to win the tournament at the National Tennis Championship

Still on top: Nguyen Thuy Dung poses with the trophy for the champion of the National Tennis Championship. Dung defeated Huynh Mai Huynh of Tanimex 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s final.

“In the national tournament this year I did not meet any big obstacles on my way to defend my title, although some of my opponents had progressed, especially Huynh Phuong Dai Trang of Da Nang, who I beat in the quarter-final,” said Dung. She will travel to the US for two months of training and competing before returning to play for the national team at the coming SEA Games.

“Huynh is a veteran player but she does not have the chance to train abroad like me, so her skills had not improved much from her performance at last year’s final.”

Huynh made Dung work very hard in the first two games of the first set, when she went ahead by stealing a break point to lead 2-0. But Dung, who has recently been primarily training and playing abroad, quickly fought back with her stormy, long rallies to Huynh’s baseline. These attacks made the HCM City-based player tired from constantly running from right to left and back to block the balls. Dung narrowed the score and finished the first set 6-4.

The second set was a little more difficult for the reigning champion, as experienced Huynh fought back.

Huynh later lost momentum after losing a couple of points, after both the main referee and line judges made errors.

“I did not complain about my loss because I had predicted it prior to the match,” said Huynh, who had planned to retire at the end of this year.

“Dung is much stronger than me because she plays professional tennis. I just tried my hardest in the final. That’s all.

“However, the referees were disappointing during some moments, which stressed me a little bit. Of course, I did not fail because of their errors, but, you know, I may have had some effect on the results,” she said.

On the men’s side, Tanimex’s Do Minh Quan stopped play maker Huynh Chi Khuong of the Army team in the last match of the national tournament.

Defending champion Quan disappointed observers who were hoping to see the rise of a new ‘king’ of Vietnamese tennis. The defending champ won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, over Khuong.

After beating several of the nation’s top players this tournament, Khuong was heralded as the championships’ giant-killer this year. He continued to play well in the final, but had difficulty executing his backhands that had helped him catch a quick 5-3 lead in the first set. But Quan, who has won here six times in the past, proved his power by winning four straight games and clinched the first set 7-5.

Khuong, the former national No 2, spent too much energy in the first set and was exhausted in the second. He dropped the set in only 40 minutes, 3-6.

Quan’s gold medal is the third for his Tanimex team, who captured three golds. The two other titles were captured in the men’s and women’s doubles events.

After the championship, the top four players of each category will be summoned by the national team to practise for the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December in Laos.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News