Angie marches to Wismilak quarters

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A 7-5, 6-3 win over Tathiana Garbin in the rain-interrupted second round match on Thursday earned Angelique Widjaja a place in the quarterfinals of the US$225,000 Wismilak International WTA tennis tournament in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Angie, as the 19-year-old Indonesian is more popularly known, also kept her doubles hopes alive by breaking into the semifinals. She partnered Maria Vento-Kabchi to beat Cho Yoon- jeong and Jeon Mi-ra of South Korea 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) later on the day.

Top seeds Angie and Vento-Kabchi will fight for a place in the finals against Trudi Musgrave (Australia) and Abigail Spears (U.S.). The other semifinals match will pit Wynne Adiati Prakusya (Indonesia) and Tamarine Tanasugarn against second seeds Emilie Loit (France) and Nicole Pratt (Australia).

The Angie-Garbin match at the Hotel Hilton tennis courts was twice halted by rain, according to the organizers.

The hometown hopeful led her Italian opponent 3-2 in the second set when the rain fell, forcing a 30-minute delay. At 4-3, the rain revisited, causing a 15-minute delay this time before the two players saw out the match.

Both players once teamed up to win the doubles trophy at the 2002 Women's Open in Bol, Croatia.

World's No. 71 Angie, who won the 2001 tournament, will now take on Saori Obata in the quarterfinals. The No. 75 player from Japan booked her ticket with a 6-1, 6-1 drubbing of Barbara Schett on Wednesday.

"I will try to play like I did during the Asian Games," said Angie, who beat Obata 7-5, 7-5 in Indonesia-Japan women's team competition at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

"I will not play a too aggressive game against her. Japanese and Koreans typically like to have aggressive players," she said in a release.

In other singles matches, Tamarine Tanasugarn stopped Chinese qualifier Jie Zheng's march 6-4, 6-3. Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland dispatched the last qualifier, Ivana Abramovic of Croatia, 6-1, 7-5.

Venezuelan Vento-Kabchi sprang the day's upset with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Conchita Martinez of Spain, the tournament's third seed and the world No. 13.

Friday's quarterfinals are Vento-Kabchi vs Gagliardi, Tamarine vs second seed Elena Dementieva, Anca Barna vs top seed Chanda Rubin and Angie vs Obata.