Angielique aims to reach the world's top 50

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After rounding off her 2002 season with a victory in Pattaya, Thailand, at the weekend, Angelique "Angie" Widjaja says she is vying for a world's top 50 next year.

"I will be looking for a place at the top fifty. Hopefully, I can reach it," Angie said during a breaking-of-the-fast gathering here on Monday.

Coach Deddy Tedjamukti said Angie would have to amass around 150 points from a number of international tournaments she planned to take part.

From the list of tournaments, the copies of which were made available to media, Deddy said that Angie could expect to win points at Canberra Women's Classic, Australian Open, Hyderabad Open in India, Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami and Family Circle Cup in South Carolina.

"Besides, she will have to defend her titles at the tournaments where she became the champion this year," he said.

During the 2002 season, Angie won three tournaments, two in singles -- the US$75,000 Al Habtoor in Dubai and Volvo Open in Pattaya -- and one in double -- Bol Ladies Open in Croatia.

Speaking about Angelique's Pattaya success, Deddy said that her protege had established a good serve, from which Angie managed to take points significantly.

Angie must be aware that a failure to defend a title cost her dearly as the case in her Wismilak championship in September, in which she lost almost 200 points.

The loss resulted in her ranking dropping to 91 before vaulting back to between 69 and 70, thanks to her triumph in Pattaya where she beat South Korean Cho Yoong-jeon in the final.

Looking ahead, Angie said that she would need to make further improvement, especially in the arrears of "upper body" endurance and footwork.

"With the upper body still needing a patch-up, I at times find myself unable to withstand a rally," she said.

Particularly about her failure at the Wismilak tournament at home and her modest performance at the Asian Games, she said that she had been partly preoccupied by mental burden.

"I will try to leave it (mental burden) behind. I will just try to enjoy tennis," said the 2001 Junior Wimbledon champion.

At the recent Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, Angie failed in the singles event, but compensated by piloting the Indonesian women to team's gold medal.