Benny marches on, but none notices<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Benny Wijaya salvaged Indonesia's hopes in the
\nUS$50,000 Men's Challenger tennis championships yesterday as he
\nblasted his way to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Mark Tjia of the U.S. to
\nearn a berth in today's quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Seeded number four, Benny shrugged off a pathetic reception
\nfrom home fans to display his best tennis at center court of the
\nKemayoran tennis complex.<\/p>\n
A serve-and-volleyer, Benny had a little trouble in the first
\nset but things were different in the second. Playing under the
\nintense glare of the sun, Benny toyed with his fast-tiring
\nopponent with his deep, powerful crosscourts.<\/p>\n
Benny, who fell in the second round last year, will now play
\nCroatian Igor Saric who upset fifth seeded Andrew Foster of
\nBritain in an exhausting three-setter on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The week-long tournament which started on Monday has failed to
\ndraw much more than flies, leaving the five courts of the annual
\ntournament sanctioned by the Association of Tennis Professionals
\n(ATP) to linesmen and committee workers.<\/p>\n
An official complained about the shoddy promotion of the event
\nwhich began just a day after the end of the Asian Games in
\nHiroshima. Even the free admission charge failed to attract more
\nthan a handful of fans each day.<\/p>\n
The newly built tennis complex, situated near the Jakarta
\nFairgrounds in North Jakarta, is staging the tournament for the
\nfirst time in place of Hilton tennis courts.<\/p>\n
Despite the tomblike silence, India's top seed Leander Paes
\nmaintained his winning ways, overpowering Toshisugu Mori of Japan
\n6-3, 6-1 in less than an hour. Mori found himself on the
\nreceiving end throughout the match, while conceding eight double
\nfaults which cost him four broken services.<\/p>\n
Paes gave his sympathetic support as well as two bars of
\nchocolate to teammate Mahesh Bhupathi who was playing third seed
\nLaurence Tieleman of Italy. The morale booster paid off as
\nBhupathi came back from a first set deficit to outlast Tieleman
\n1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.<\/p>\n
The Indian pair formed a formidable team later in the
\nafternoon to knock out Belgian fourth seeds Gunter van Derveeren
\nand Tom van Dehoudt 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to advance to a semifinal
\nclash against second seeds Oscar Ortiz of Mexico and Ari Nathan
\nof the U.S. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/benny-marches-on-but-none-notices-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}