Ayu stopped in quarters at women's tennis meet
Ayu stopped in quarters at women's tennis meet
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Ayu Fani Damayanti of Indonesia failed to advance into the
semifinals in the second series of the US$10,000 Indonesia
Women's Circuit after losing to Thailand's Montinee Tangphong 6-
2, 4-6, 6-1 here on Thursday.
After being dominated in the opening set, Ayu, who hails from
Bali, lifted her game in the second set to take control from her
opponent.
Ayu outplayed Tangphong early to race to a 3-1 lead. The Thai,
refused to sit back and evened the set at four games each.
However, Ayu managed to stop Tangphong's march and closed the set
with a 6-4 win in 35 minutes.
Unfortunately, fatigue seemed to cause Ayu to fumble in the
third set, allowing Tangphong to easily beat the Indonesian in
only 25 minutes.
Ayu blamed the debacle in the third set partly on back
injuries.
"She played a very good game, and my back also hurt during the
third set," she told The Jakarta Post after the match.
Tangphong will face last week's champion and top seed Sania
Mirza. The Indian moved a step closer to attaining her back-to-
back second title by defeating seventh seed Wilawan Choptang of
Thailand 6-1, 6-3.
The other semifinal will be an all-Indonesian tussle with
veteran Liza Andriyani taking on the youthful Septi Mende.
Eighth seed Liza, who was a member of the national tennis team
at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, crushed another young star, Sandy
Gumulya, 6-3, 6-1. Sandy will be on the team for the upcoming
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam in December.
Septi, who is Sandy's teammate, dispatched Wukirasih
Sawondari, who earned Indonesia a gold medal by beating
Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the 1997 SEA Games, 6-2, 6-4.
Teaming up with Maya Rosa, Septi's doubles campaign is still
on track. The pair were involved in a tough match against second
seeds Wilawan Choptang/Shruti Dhawan, whom they beat in last
week's finals, before coming out the 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5)
winners.
Top seed Sania Mirza/Rushmi Chakravarthi of India also marched
to the semifinals, breezing past Indonesian qualifiers Mimma
Chernovita/Eny Sulistyowati 6-2, 6-1. The other two pairs
advancing to the semifinals are fourth seeds Liza Andriyani/Diana
Julianto and Sandy Gumulya/Wukirasih Sawondari.