Benny completes host's failure Indonesia Open

Benny completes host's failure Indonesia Open

JAKARTA (JP): National number one Benny Wijaya wrapped up the
total demolition of Indonesian players at the US$300,000
Indonesia Men's Open tennis championships yesterday when he
walked off the court with a 1-6, 2-6 first-round thrashing by
fourth seed Markus Zoecke of Germany.

It was such a one-sided match that Benny took most of his
points from Zoecke's mistakes. The towering German, currently
ranked 50 in the world number, pounded struggling Benny with a
series of devastating strokes which rarely received equal
answers.

Benny was the last hope to salvage the local talents' honor,
following Monday's first-round clean sweep of three Indonesian
top players.

The day of upset went on with the withdrawal of top seed Bernd
Karbacher due to a gastro-intestinal infection yesterday. The
German, gearing up for his Australia Open next week, handed his
berth to lucky loser Ronald Agenor of Haiti.

Agenor, who was forced to play the qualifying round for his
late arrival, took full advantage of his unexpected slot to the
main draw with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Filip De Wulf of Belgium.

Benny, world number 279 and a wild card entry bearer, was
totally outplayed, outclassed and outgunned. Even when he was
twice on the verge to a shocking break in the opening set, he
easily missed both chances due to the power tennis steered by the
sluggish German.

Zoecke's missile-like serves, which conquered fellow big
serving player Goran Ivanisevic in last year's U.S. Open first
round, worked well on the fast surface of the Senayan indoor
tennis stadium. Zoecke blasted five aces and produced five breaks
to end Benny's disastrous challenge during the one hour and 10
minutes of play.

Playing under continuous jeers from a score of his own public,
Benny could only display his best tennis when saved his serve in
the sixth game of the second set. Benny came charging to the net
for tricky volleys, but a paltry number of spectators gave a
quiet response.

Newly elected president of the Indonesian Tennis Association,
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, sat tightlipped in the VIP stand, but
later complained about the lack of fighting spirit among national
players.

Benny admitted he was not in the same league as his powerful
opponent. "He's too much for me. I'm very disappointed because I
did not enough preparation for this tournament," said Benny. He
reached the third round after his surprising win over Russian
Andrei Olhovskiy last year.

"I'm in pretty good shape today. Benny was not hard enough for
me, but I will face further challenges on my way to the title,"
said Zoecke.

Second seed Paul Haarhuis also got off to a comfortable start,
knocking out Youness El Aynaoui of Morocco 6-3, 6-2. Another
Moroccan Karim Alami joined the first-round casualty when he lost
1-6, 4-6 to Radomir Vasek of the Czech Republic. (amd)