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.