Angelique claims Pattaya open title
Angelique claims Pattaya open title
Agence France-Presse, Pattaya, Thailand
Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja claimed the second title of her short career Sunday, defeating Cho Yoon-Jeong of Korea 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the US$110,000 Volvo Open tennis tournament here.
The 17-year-old, adding to the title she won in Bali last year, dropped her serve in the opening game of both sets, but rallied to overcome Cho, the first Korean ever to contest the final of a WTA event.
Angelique, whose distinguished junior career included the 2001 Wimbledon and 2002 French Open singles titles, hit the ball more powerfully than her older but less experienced opponent, and also had more variety in her game.
"My target at the beginning of the week was just to reach the quarterfinals, because I saw the draw and knew it would be tough," said Angelique, who upset top seed Tatiana Panova in the semis.
"I didn't have a good result in Bali this year, so I wanted to do well here to make up for it."
She also wanted to clinch a victory to honor former Indonesian flag-bearer Yayuk Basuki, who won the event three times before retiring at the tournament last year.
"We talked to each other and I asked her what she wanted for her birthday (later this month), and she told me the trophy from Pattaya," the rising Indonesian star revealed.
"So her dream has come true, and mine also. We keep in touch by SMS (short message service) on our mobile phones, and she has been giving me advice, which has helped me mentally."
After losing her first service game, Widjaja leveled at 1-1 and then had to fight back from 0-40 to hold for 2-1. But after Cho had held for 2-2, Angelique swept the next four games to take the set.
In the second set, Cho led 2-0, but Angelique pulled back to 3-3, lost her serve again, but then claimed the final three games to wrap up a 70-minute victory.
Cho called for the trainer in the second set to treat a left knee injury, and admitted later it had hindered her throughout the match.
"I was a little bit nervous, but the problem was that I couldn't move," she said. "Right before the match I felt pain in my knee, and it was getting worse so I couldn't move very quickly. It was very sad for that to happen today.
"If I could move I could have played much better and had more of a chance. It's the first time I have had this problem, and I don't know why it happened."
Until now, Angelique has been restricted by her age to playing no more than 13 tournaments a year, a restriction she says has prevented her from building any momentum or consistency on the WTA Tour.