Angie opens Volvo defense with victory over Napaporn

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Angelique 'Angie' Widjaja of Indonesia got off to a winning start in her defense of the US$110,000 Volvo Open women's tennis tournament in Pattaya, Thailand, on Wednesday.

Angie, seeded eighth, overcame second set jitters to book a 6- 2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over local wildcard Napaporn Tongsalee, her manager Virginia Rusli reported.

Other players winning their first round matches included Elena Tatarkova, Karerina Bondarenko from Ukraine, Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic and Lydia Steinbach of Germany.

Meanwhile, Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia and Anastasia Rodionova of Russia advanced to the third round.

Angie, whose ranking has dropped to 74 due to her stuttering run this season, was dominant in the first set.

The 19-year-old Indonesian looked to be continuing her commanding run when she led 3-1. But the Thai opponent crawled her way back to match and eventually seal the set.

"That almost caused Angie to lose her confidence," Virginia said.

In the deciding set, Angie was a game down but recovered to charge through to the end.

Angie, who plans to carry out a two-week training workout in Arizona by the end of the year, will face the world's 101st- ranked player, Lubomira Kurhajcova of Bulgaria, in the second round.