Angie through to all-Asian final at Pattaya tennis
Angie through to all-Asian final at Pattaya tennis
Agence France-Presse Pattaya, Thailand
Indonesia's Angelique "Angie" Widjaja set up an all-Asian final with South Korean Cho Yoon-jeong with an upset win over Russian Tatiana Panova here Saturday.
The up and coming teenager beat the Russian top seed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 in their semi-final clash, while Cho defeated another Russian, Lina Krasnoroutskaya, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Angelique played a tentative first set, breaking Panova in the fourth game but dropping her own opening three service games.
The 17-year-old Indonesian also lost her serve again as the second set got underway, but Panova double-faulted to allow Angelique to level at 1-1.
Panova, who complained of struggling with the heat in Friday's quarterfinal, began to look tired, and a more aggressive Widjaja swept the next five games to take the set.
In the final set, Angelique broke to lead 3-2 and 5-2, but then conceded her own serve before eventually closing out the match on her fifth match point.
"In the first set I was a little bit rushed because I wasn't sure how to play her," said the up-and-coming Indonesian star, who will bid to win her second career title after claiming victory in Bali last year.
"I made so many unforced errors in the first set. I hit the ball short and made it easy for her.
"In the second set I played more consistently. My first serve wasn't like in the first days of the tournament, but I was very confident with my groundstrokes. I used my slice also, and I don't think she liked that."
Cho became the first Korean ever to reach a WTA Tour final when she defeated her erratic Russian opponent.
Although Krasnoroutskaya had the weapons to dominate with her strong serve and big forehand, she made far too many unforced errors against the more consistent Cho.
Five consecutive service breaks left Cho serving for the first set at 5-4, and both players also battled to hold at the beginning of the second set as the first four games went against serve.
Krasnoroutskaya also held five break points before Cho held to lead 3-2.
Games then continued to go with serve until Cho broke to lead 6-5, but she dropped her own serve in the next game before dominating the tiebreak.
"I don't know why, but today I didn't feel tense," she said.
"I felt very comfortable on the court from the beginning. My forehand was very good today, and my return. Lina is a hard hitter and it's very difficult to tell where she is going to hit her forehand, but fortunately she made more mistakes than me."