NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 24: South Korea men defeated “soft rivals†Thailand 3-0 to bring curtains to the Bharat Sanchar Asia Cup tennis here on Sunday. The winners also took home a purse of $ 25,000.Yong-Il Yoon started Korea’s day with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Attapol Rittiwattanapong. Later, Korea’s best bet Hyung-Taik Lee squeezed past Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) to give South Korea a formidable win over Thailand. With the match already sealed, the doubles tie was played as exhibition match and there too the Koreans prevailed 8-2. Earlier, a determined Yoon gave Korea the vital 1-0 lead in the opening tie. Playing aggressively, Yoon dominated the match completely and broke Rittiwattanapong in the third and fifth games of the first set. In the second set, with his well-timed shots and deft placings, Yoon got a break in the third and seventh games as he rushed to a 6-2, 6-2 win. The second match between Korea’s No 1 player Hyung-Taik Lee, currently ranked 90 in the ATP Tour list, and Danai Udomchoke was almost a treat for the small Sunday crowd. Lee has the reputation of being a fighter and is mentally very tough, calculating all his moves. Today, he broke Udomchoke in the very first game of the first set. Udomchoke fought hard to stay in contention and played cautiously. This actually prevented any further breaks in the set but Lee served out for the set at 6-4. In the second set, things were not as easy as Lee had expected. Udomchoke, ranked 301, succeeded in showing that he was not a pushover. Both played flawless tennis which meant there were no breaks till the 11th game. On a return to Lee’s forehand Udamchoke hit slightly long and he lost his serve. But Udamchoke quickly broke back in the 12th game to push the match in to a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker both fought for each point but in the end Lee prevailed 9-7.In the “exhibition doubles tieâ€, the Korean pair of Lee and Yoon had it rather easy at 8-2 over the Thais, Rittiwattanapong and Udamachoke.Runners-up Thailand got $12,500 while India, which finished third, got $6,500.Results: Men’s final: Korea bt Thailand 2-0 Yong-Il Yoon (Kor) bt Attapol Rithiwattanapon (Tha) 6-2, 6-2; Hyung-Taik Lee (Kor) bt Danai Udomchoke (Tha) 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).
