Angie's run at Wismilak stopped by Kuznetsova

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.