Cambodia’s 2017 SEA Games women’s singles bronze medallist Andrea Ka reached a career-high doubles ranking of 485 on the WTA Circuit at the weekend after going down in the final of the $15,000 Futures in Monastir with local Tunisian player Chiraz Bechri as her partner.
Andrea and Bechri were outplayed in the final 6-1, 6-0 by the Spanish combination of Arias Manjon and Lazaro Garcia but the French Born Cambodian’s consistently good performances over the past few months despite teaming up with different partners has helped her in cracking the top 500 mark.
However, Andrea has drifted a long way in singles with her current ranking at 819 even after making the semi-finals at the same event.
On the way to the last four Andrea overcame Italian Claudia Giovine, ranked well above her at 722. After taking the first set on a tie break, Andrea ran up a 4-0 lead in the second when her rival retired from the contest. But in her battle against 582nd ranked Caroline Romeo of France, Andrea blew up a one set lead and went down 7-5, 1-6,2-6.
“It’s normal for a player to have ups and downs on the tour, when you consider the number of things they have to balance and deal with, such as the schedule, injury, training, and proper rest,” said the secretary-general of Tennis Cambodia, Tep Rithivit, who has been closely monitoring her performances.
“Andrea is continuing to show she belongs in the top 500, beating players ranked higher than her and even pushing the higher ranked players to 3 sets from time to time. Her game is there and it’s only a matter of time until she climbs up the singles rankings again.”
