Angie in Bali final, Sanchez-Vicario exits unexpectedly
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)