Andrian survives scare in tennis selection event
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Davis Cup players look certain to be reunited in the national elite team after scoring second successive wins in their respective group matches at the selection tournament yesterday.
Andrian Raturandang was the only one forced to stretch himself as he had to fight off both a nagging hamstring injury and a persistent challenge from veteran Dede Suhendar on his way to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory in his Group A match.
Januar Rajab threw the group wide open with a 6-2, 6-4 trouncing of Febi Widhianto. Januar, who lost to Dede on Monday, needs a straight-sets win over Andrian in today's final group match to secure one of the eight places in the national team.
Bonit Wiryawan and Edy Kusdaryanto also face the same tricky draw. The two top ranked players maintained their 100 per cent records to lead their respective groups, but an unexpected defeat today could send them packing.
Top seed Bonit had an easy time overcoming former Davis Cupper Sebastian da Costa 6-4, 6-0 in their Group C match, while Edy claimed a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 win over Jeffry Trihandiansyah.
In Group D another Davis Cup team member, Sulistyo Wibowo, and his junior Edo Bawono maintained their winning streaks to become the only players to qualify for the final eight round.
Sulistyo handed Cahyono his second defeat of the day with a 6- 2, 6-1 win, while Edo beat Yusmawan Fahmi 6-4, 6-1. Earlier yesterday Cahyono suffered a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) upset at the hands of Edo in the resumption of their match which was stopped by rain on Monday.
Sulistyo and Edo will meet today for the group's top spot.
In the women's division, all the favorites except top seed Mimma Chernovita clinched their second victories without much trouble. While other seeded players dropped fewer than five games, Mimma was pushed into a fight by Asri Nursanti Ebo before triumphing 7-5, 7-5.
Mimma blamed her poor form on exhaustion after playing a resumption match against Marieke Gunawan earlier yesterday.
Error ridden
Andrian played error-ridden tennis to allow the player who beat him twice in the National Games last September first blood. Holding serve, the Davis Cupper led 40-15 at 5-4, but a string of wide returns cost him the two set-points and the set.
Andrian picked up the tempo in the second set which saw Dede make the running. It took Andrian less than 30 minutes to force a decider.
It seemed that Andrian would easily seal the match as a tired looking Dede quickly went 1-4 down. But Andrian slowed down the pace to save energy after complaining of hamstring trouble he first suffered in a Davis Cup tie against Chinese Taipei in September.
The decision proved a disaster. A seasoned Dede managed a brilliant fightback to win three successive games to equalize.
Experience, however, was not enough for Dede in such a stamina-sapping match. Trailing 4-5, he dropped the crucial game after he hit volleys into the net. Andrian just waited for Dede to make other mistakes to take the match.
"I did not think he could stage such a great fightback. I was lucky to survive," said Andrian, who won the initial selection tournament last June.
Dede was far from disappointed. "It was a battle of strategy. The story could have been different if I had not run out of steam in the last few minutes," he said. (amd)