Angie flops again in second round

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Angelique 'Angie' Widjaja has again experienced the frustration of being either a first-round or second-round performer as the Indonesian 19-year-old failed to defend the Volvo Open title.

Angie, who was the eighth seed in the US$110,000 tournament, lost to Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia 5-7, 1-6 in the second round in Pattaya, Thailand, on Thursday.

The first-set match was tightly battled with the two players taking the lead alternately before Kurhajcova -- who is ranked 101 in the world compared to Angie's 74 -- wrapped up the win, according to Antara.

Angie seemed to run out of steam, losing five games on the trot. She pulled one back, which proved to be the only game she could win in the second-set drubbing.

Top seeds were through to the next round with Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand edging out Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 and Saori Obata of Japan dominating Ivana Abramovic 6-0, 6-3.

Other advancing players included Anca Barna of Germany, Jelena Kostanic of Croatia and Elena Tatarkova of Ukraine.

The Volvo exit rounded off Angie's dismal run throughout the year, during which, with the exception of the Wismilak tournament, she has ended either in the first round or second round.

She reached the quarterfinals at the 2003 Wismilak tournament in Bali, the tournament in which she won her first WTA title in 2001.

With yet another disappointment in Thailand Angie will certainly drop back further in the rankings at the end of the year.

However, she was still hopeful of a consolation prize from her Thai trip as she marched to the semifinals in the doubles pairing with fellow Indonesian Wynne Prakusya.

Top seeds Angie/Wynne beat Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) / Anastassia Rodionova (Russia) 6-2, 6-4.