Angie's run at Wismilak stopped by Kuznetsova
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Nusa Dua, Bali
Angelique "Angie" Widjaja's run in the US$225,000 Wismilak International Tennis Tournament was halted in the quarterfinals when she lost to second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia here on Friday.
U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova, currently ranked sixth in the world compared to Angie's ranking of 144, overpowered the Indonesian star 7-5, 6-1 in less than two hours with fast and powerful forehands throughout the game.
The victory sees Kuznetsova coming up against fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, who beat Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals when Petrova will get the chance of avenging her defeat in the U.S. Open's quarterfinals in September.
The other semifinal match pits Maria Elena Camerin of Italy against Marlene Weingartner of Germany. Camerin beat Cho Yoon- jeung of South Korea 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 while Weingartner edged Argentina's Gisela Dulko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
For Angie, the defeat means that she has failed to emulate her success in 2001. Entering the tournament as a wildcard holder, Angie played her way into the final where she stunned Joannette Kruger of South Africa.
But on Friday, the 19-year-old Indonesian, also a wildcard holder, found the Kuznetsova was made of sterner stuff.
Even though Kuznetsova is far ahead of her in the world rankings, Angie was not completely overwhelmed. She managed to put up a spirited performance in the opening set.
She matched every point the Russian took until the score was even at 3-3. She pulled ahead 4-3 and added another game before the Russian came back strongly to wrap up the set 7-5.
Angie, who has been dogged by a nagging injury on her ankle, tried to fight back in the second set as Kuznetsova tried to finish the match as soon as possible with her powerful shots.
But the Indonesian could only took one game as Kuznetsova powered ahead.
"Today was a very tough game and I tried everything to win in just two sets," Kuznetsova said.
However, Kuznetsova said that she knew Angie had trouble in returning her shots as her left knee was injured. But Angie did pretty well and her game is much better than before," Kuznetsova added.
It was only the players' second match. The first was in the 2001 U.S. Open junior competition, which Kuznetsova won.
While admitting to being affected by the injury, Angie refused to make excuses for her defeat.
"I have to admit that Kuznetsova has really good and strong forehand shots. However, her forehand shots were not that solid in the first game. That's why I got up to 5-7," Angie told reporters in a post-match press conference.
Angie said she would have taken the first set had she been more in control in critical situations.
"I should have won the first match. There were many times when I was leading 40-0, but too bad ... I couldn't do it," she explained.
Angie said that she had no regrets after losing to Kuznetsova.
"I feel that I have given my best in this tournament and this time my opponent was a strong one, so I don't feel bad at all," Angie said.
Kuznetsova also spoilt Angie's road to glory in the doubles. As the defending champions, Angie and her Venezuelan partner, Maria Vento-Kabchi, went down to Kuznetsova and Arantxa Sanchez- Vicario of Spain in the quarterfinals on Thursday.