Angie in Bali final, Sanchez-Vicario exits unexpectedly

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Top seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain has been toppled on her way to the final of the US$170,000 Wismilak International tennis tournament here, while Indonesian teenager Angelique Widjaya set up a chance to win her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour title.

Sanchez-Vicario was ousted by unheralded South African Joannette Kruger in Saturday's semifinal match.

Despite a display of confidence with a comeback in the second set, Sanchez-Vicario ended up going down 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

The Spaniard struggled throughout and was unable to overcome the eighth-seeded South African's persistent groundstrokes. She appeared in trouble right from the start, double-faulting to lose her serve in the second game. Sanchez-Vicario failed to hold serve in the first set or the third.

Playing calmly and consistently, Kruger was steadier from the baseline and chose the right moments to attack, while Sanchez- Vicario failed to find any rhythm.

"I'm not surprised I won," Kruger was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"I was up 5-3 in the third set against her at the U.S. Open last year but lost 7-6, so I knew I could do it."

Sanchez-Vicario said many areas of her game were lacking as she failed to offer a real challenge.

"If you let her play she's a very good player," Sanchez- Vicario said. "A lot of things didn't work today. My serve didn't work, my shots down the line were just missing and my volleys weren't closing the points enough."

Meanwhile, the 16-year-old Angelique, commonly known as Angie, overcame 15-year-old Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1).

Both players were making their WTA debuts, with Angie receiving a wild card into the main draw and Hsieh a wildcard into the qualifying round. Hsieh had previously played in five International Tennis Federation (ITF) events this year, winning all five.

Showing power and persistence capable of offering a threat at the highest level, both players showed astonishing skill and versatility.

Hsieh, who had won all of the 33 matches she had played this year, served for victory at 5-4 in the third set but Angie broke back and then edged through in the tiebreaker.

Many tennis observers had earlier expected that Angie would cruise into the final to meet Sanchez-Vicario.

The loss was another bad day for Sanchez-Vicario after missing an opportunity on Friday to play in the doubles final with Indonesian veteran Yayuk Basuki.

The experienced duo were defeated 6-2, 6-3 by youngsters Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia and Janet Lee of Chinese Taipei. (54)