Ayu, Liu meet in ITF junior finals

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Liu Wan Ting and Ayu Fani Damayanti lived up to the billings to meet in the finals of the 2003 ITF Junior Tennis Championships after defeating their lower rated opponents in the semifinals at the Bung Karno tennis courts here on Saturday.

Top seed Liu of China booked her final spot with a 6-3, 6-2 win in 73 minutes over non-seeded Nancy Metriya of Indonesia while second seed Ayu defeated fellow Indonesian, sixth seed Dian Mayasari 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) in 90 minutes.

After a one-sided encounter in the first set, the second set became interesting as Dian posed tough opposition to battle a 1-4 deficit to lead at 6-5.

However, Ayu refused to give in and forced tiebreaks, during which Dian struggled and was beaten 5-7.

Meanwhile, Liu opened the first set by winning the first three games. Though, it was not an easy accomplishment in the third game as Nancy was instantly persistent to force Liu to deuces six times before surrendering the game.

It seemed to provide a boost to Nancy as the Indonesian ran her way to close the gap from 0-3 to 3-4 in the seventh game. But, she was broken in the eighth game and Liu was unstoppable to seal the set.

In the second set, Nancy could only match Liu's play in the first four games, after which Liu showed she was too strong for Nancy.

In the boys' singles, top seed Yi Chu Huan of Chinese Taipei will be challenged by fourth seed Roman Kelecic of Croatia in the finals.

Yi, who is ranked 70th in the world's junior ITF, outplayed Immanuel Prabowo of Indonesia 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinal match.

Earlier, Kelecic defeated 12th seed Lee Meng Hua of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

The Jakarta's tourney will be followed by the Widjojo Soejono International Junior Tennis Championships in Surabaya from Nov. 17 to 23.

Sixty-four boys and 32 girls will take part the Surabaya tournament.