Bonit and Sulistyo cruise to Futures doubles semis
Bonit and Sulistyo cruise to Futures doubles semis
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's veteran pair of Bonit Wiryawan and
Sulistyo Wibowo made their way to the semifinals of the US$15,000
Indonesia Futures-2 at the Kemayoran Tennis Center in Central
Jakarta on Friday.
Bonit and Sulistyo, the only host players to have survived in
the event, had to fight hard before upsetting second seeds Rik De
Voest and Haydn Wakefield of South Africa 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 in
the second round.
The Indonesians will challenge the South Korean duo of Chung
Hee-seok and Chung Hee-sung, who sweated it out to defeat Bjorn
Jacob of Germany and Marc Merry of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-2, 7-6
(7-3).
Bonit and Sulistyo won the Futures-1 last week in an All-
Indonesian final against Davis Cup team member Edy Kusdaryanto
and Hendri Susilo Pramono.
In another match, the third seeded pair of Frantisek Cermak of
the Czech Republic and Roman Kukal of Slovakia beat qualifiers
Rico Jacober of Switzerland and Kantki Thomas of the United
States 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.
Cermak and Kukal will face top seeds Zbynek Mlynarik of
Austria and Vladimir Platenik of Slovakia, who beat the South
Korean pair of Han Min-kyu and Lee Sang-hoon 6-4, 7-5.
In the singles event, Cermak also cruised to the semifinals
after a 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) win over De Voest in the quarterfinals on
Friday. Cermak will play South Korean Kwon Oh-hee, who had no
difficulties in defeating Mlynarik 6-4, 6-4.
Another semifinal match will pit South Korean Yoon Yong-ill
and Finnish Jarkko Nieminen. Yoon beat Jacob 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 while
Nieminen outclassed Ashley Ford of Australia 6-2, 6-4.
Separately, the spokesman of the Indonesian Tennis Association
(Pelti), Benny Mailili, denounced the comment made by colleague
Pelti treasurer Qoyum A. Tjandranegara, who said on Wednesday
that the Futures tournaments only served as an event for
international players instead of host players.
"He should realize that it takes about two years to groom
local tennis players into world-class players. If he said that
international tournaments staged here are only to serve foreign
players, he should argue the case."
"If the tennis association in England holds the same thought
as him and refuses to stage Wimbledon because no Englishman can
win it, then there would not be a Grand Slam event in this
country. (Based on this analogy) I think Qoyum is too narrow-
minded," he said emotionally.
Qoyum also suggested that Pelti should eliminate one Futures
event to a Satellite to boost local players' fighting spirit.
(ivy)