Diana Shnaider upsets the defending champion Lin Zhu 6-3 2-6 6-1 in the final in Hua Hin on Sunday. The match lasted 1 hour and 59 minutes. She won this tournament after playing this event for the first time in her career.
Shnaider added $ 15,420 to her prize money after winning this final. She has earned $ 36,250 in total after conquering this tournament.
Highlights Diana Shnaider vs. Lin Zhu Thailand Open – Hua Hin
Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners
1h:59
At the end of the match, the Russian scored 75 points vs. the Chinese’s 65.
Shnaider
Shnaider was fantastic in converting all the break points (5/5).
Zhu
On the other side, Zhu was struggling when converting her break points (only 43% – 3/7). That was one of the key issues for her defeat.
After this match, the head to head between Shnaider and Zhu is 2-0 for Diana.
This was the maiden title for Diana. This was her 1st final as she was the runner up in Osaka 2023. Zhu 1st remains with 1 title after she conquered the tournament in Hua Hin 2023. (see list of titles and finals)
Live score progression and stats
Shnaider was quite dominant at the beginning of the set to break Lin Zhu in the 2nd game (2-0) before consolidating her break and lead 3-0. Notwithstanding, that was not enough for Diana to win the set because the Chinese managed to break back in the 7th (3-4) game. Shnaider maintained her cool to break the Chinese in the 8th (5-3) game before winning the set (6-3).
Zhu capitulated the 2nd game (2-0) when she had a good chance to win the game when leading 40-0.
The Russian was on the money in converting all her break points in the 2nd (1-0 40-A) and the 8th game (4-3 30-40). On the other side, Zhu converted 20% of her break points (1/5). She had her opportunities in the 3rd (0-2 30-40, 40-A and 40-A) and the 7th game (2-4 30-40 and 40-A).
They contested 68 points. Diana conquered the set after winning 6 points more than Zhu (37-31). The Russian surrendered 14 points on serve (22-14). On the other side, Lin conceded 15 points on serve (17-15).
The Chinese in this set stepped up in a great fashion to overplay the Russian and consequently she won 6-2 after breaking the Russian in the 6th (4-2) and in the 8th (6-2) game.
The Chinese failed to serve out the set when leading 6-2 to be broken at 0.
Diana was eclipsed in the last 5 games of the set when the score went from 2-2 to 6-2.
Lin was on the money in converting all her break points in the 6th (3-2 30-40) and the 8th game (5-2 0-40). On the other side, Shnaider wasn’t able to convert 1 break point in the 9th game (1-6 0-40).
They contested 38 points. Zhu conquered the set after winning 6 more points than Shnaider (22-16). Zhu dropped 6 points on serve (12-6). On the losing side, the Russian conceded 10 points on serve (10-10).
Shnaider had a boost of confidence at the beginning of the set after breaking Lin Zhu in the 2nd game (2-0). Shnaider managed to boost her lead after breaking Zhu in the 7th (6-1) game before winning the set.
The Chinese had no answers in the last 4 games of the set when the game count went from 2-1 to 6-1.
Diana was perfect in converting all her break points in the 5th (3-1 30-40) and the 7th game (5-1 30-40). On the other side, Diana didn’t concede a single break point during this set.
They contested 34 points. Shnaider was the one to win the set after conquering 10 points more than Zhu (22-12). Diana was extremely solid on serve to drop just 4 points (12-4). On the losing side, Lin conceded 10 points on serve (8-10).
