Indonesia trails Italy in Fed Cup tennis tie<\/p>\n
By Bruce Emond<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young Fed Cup team put up a brave
\nfight yesterday but still lost both singles matches to Italy at
\nSenayan tennis court, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The Indonesians will now have to take both reverse singles
\nmatches and the decisive doubles today to win the World Group Two
\nplayoff tie. Matches begin at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
The Italians gave the young Indonesians, both 16, lessons in
\nclay court tennis and exposed their lack of match play
\nexperience.<\/p>\n
Wukirasih Sawondari lost to Italian number one Silvia Farina
\n2-6, 4-6 in the opening match.<\/p>\n
Wynne Prakusya played superbly and wrested the second set from
\nFlora Perfetti before going down 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-6.<\/p>\n
The Wukira-Farina match was closer than the score suggests but
\nthe Italian never looked in danger. Farina played aggressively
\nthroughout, but made frequent unforced errors as her opponent
\nscrambled to retrieve her deep groundstrokes and occasional
\ndropshots.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian fought back from a disastrous first set start
\nto run the Italian close in the second. Wukira lost her opening
\nservice game and found herself down 0-4 before getting on the
\nscoreboard. Games continued with serve until Farina held to take
\nthe set.<\/p>\n
But Wukira, ranked 714 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA)
\ncomputer to Farina's 40, began to find her range in the second
\nset. Farina broke Wukira's serve at the start of the set, before
\nthe courts were swept and watered. The interruption seemed to
\ndisturb Farina's concentration, however, as she promptly lost her
\nserve.<\/p>\n
An inspired Wukira began to hit the ball deeper and mix up her
\nshots, throwing up occasional moonballs to keep Farina behind the
\nbaseline. She also profited from some sloppy errors by the
\nItalian. Breaks of serve went back and forth before Farina took a
\n4-3 lead.<\/p>\n
Wukira had two points to break back in the next game, but the
\nItalian managed to hold on and then took the match. Wukira still
\nneeds to learn proper shot selection and to be more aggressive.
\nShe was most successful when forcing the point instead of just
\nkeeping the ball in play.<\/p>\n
Wynne Prakusya proved once again she is undaunted by playing
\nfor her country. The heroine of Indonesia's unbeaten run in the
\nFed Cup qualifiers in Auckland last March kept pace with
\nPerfetti's patient baseline game to grab the second set in a
\ncliff-hanger tiebreak.<\/p>\n
Wynne's strong groundstrokes, particularly her forehand,
\ndelighted the crowd. She appeared exhausted in the final set and
\nPerfetti took particular advantage of her weak service, which
\noften did little other than put the ball in play.<\/p>\n
\"I started cramping in the final set and couldn't move very
\nwell at all,\" Wynne said after the match. \"I felt like my whole
\nbody was stiff and I couldn't stay in the long rallies like I had
\nin the first two sets.\"<\/p>\n
There was no sign of Indonesian number one Yayuk Basuki at the
\nstadium yesterday. Yayuk, who was scratched from the team lineup
\nby the Indonesian Tennis Association in a dispute over the tie's
\nplaying surface, was reportedly visiting her ailing mother in
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>",
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