Ayu, Liu meet in ITF junior finals

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.