Sawangkaew, Tararudee create history for Thailand at Wimbledon

Thailand is celebrating the rise of Mananchaya Sawangkaew and Lanlana Tararudee, whose Wimbledon wins on Monday created history for their country.

In an Open-era first, two Thai players have progressed to the second round of the same Grand Slam event – an achievement boosted by a win for Indonesia’s Janice Tjen to make it a memorable Monday for Southeast Asia.

On Tuesday, Filipina Alexandra Eala will attempt to join them in round two. The 29th seed has a strong chance of doing so when she opens against world No.75 Renata Zarazua, having recently reached the grasscourt semifinals in Berlin.

“It’s just so nice to see, like for example in my region, there are I think four women in the main draw from Southeast Asia alone – me, Janice, Ma and Lanlana,” Eala told The Sit-Down podcast at Australian Open 2026.

“It’s such a great time for women’s sports in our region, and women’s tennis, so I’m so happy to be a part of that.”

At AO 2026, Tjen was the only first-round winner of that quartet when she beat Leylah Fernandez.

Tjen, a product of the US college system and now ranked on the cusp of the top 40, repeated the feat at Wimbledon with another straight-sets triumph over Fernandez.

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The result snapped a four-match losing streak on grass and saw the 24-year-old earn a much-needed win after losses in 13 of her previous 16 matches.

Debuting in the main draw at Wimbledon, Tjen will attempt to reach her first Grand Slam third round when she next faces Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, a three-set winner on Monday.

Yet it was the wins for Sawangkaew and Tararudee which arguably turned more heads.

Her progress is also generating excitement in her homeland.

“They [former pros Tamarine Tanasugarn and Luksika Kumkhum] text me also like congratulations. And Tamarine, she just text me, 'congratulations, and enjoy with the grass court', something like that,” Sawangkaew revealed. “I was surprise that she text me because she's so kind to me.”

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Tanasugarn was a Wimbledon icon, a quarterfinalist in 2008 who also reached the fourth round on another six occasions. Yet she was never joined in the second round by a compatriot in her 16 consecutive women’s singles campaigns from 1997 to 2012.

Tararudee ensured that history was created in 2026 when she beat Austrian rising star Lilli Tagger in three sets for her first tour-level win on grass.

The win continues an impressive season for the 21-year-old, who is now a top-100 player after starting 2026 at world No.131.

Playing mostly on the WTA 125 circuit and at W100 ITF events, Tararudee has built a 29-13 win-loss record this year. In March she earned the biggest title of her career at the WTA 125 in Austin, beating Bianca Andreescu – the 2019 US Open champion and former world No.4 – in the final.

She also qualified for the main draws at the Australian Open and Indian Wells this year, yet this marks her best result at a major tournament, setting up a second-round battle with 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

This might be where the run ends for both Tararudee and Sawangkaew. Yet with history already created, they are helping to put both their country, and their region, back on the tennis map.

And with Tjen and Eala also still in contention at Wimbledon, it will be fascinating to see what unfolds from here.

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