Champion Febi defends Cigna Open tennis title
Champion Febi defends Cigna Open tennis title
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Febi Widhiyanto successfully defended his Cigna Open title after
defeating top seed Suwandi in the final at the Hilton Executive
Club hardcourts here on Sunday.
Febi won the match 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in an hour and a quarter,
after play had been interrupted for around half an hour due to
rain.
"What a relief. I came here to play as well as possible. I had
nothing to lose against Suwandi. He was the top seed here and
more experienced," Febi told reporters after the match.
Febi, 22, capped his singles victory with a win in the
doubles, pairing with Hendri Susilo Pramono. The duo outplayed
Edy Kusdaryanto and Ferdy Fauzi 6-4, 6-4.
The 2002 Cigna Open, which offered total prize money of Rp 60
million (US$5,890), also proved successful for Liza Andriyani,
who missed out on a spot in the national team for the Federation
Cup, with victory in both the singles and doubles.
After securing the doubles title with Wukirasih Sawondari on
Friday, she carried on with a 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over fellow
West Javanese Diana Julianto in Saturday's singles final.
In the men's final, Febi had his serve broken in the fourth
game but promptly broke back in the next. He broke again in the
ninth game before holding on to seal the set.
Both players exchanged breaks early in the second set. Febi
was leading 3-2 and 40-15 when the rain began to fall, delaying
play for half an hour.
Suwandi looked to have evened things up, but Febi successfully
dealt with the attempted fightback to take a two game lead.
Febi managed to survive two set points that would have sent
the match into a third.
"I was nervous after the delay. It threw me a bit when Suwandi
changed tactics and switched to long rallies. I had to try and
get back into the groove," he said.
He is still trailing 2-3 in head-to-head meetings with
Suwandi.
Unlike earlier in the tournament when spectators didn't appear
to be supporting particular players, Saturday's final saw the
crowd divide its loyalties, adding to the atmosphere.
Suwandi must have been ruing missed opportunities when he
twice squandered game points in the second set that would have
taken the match to a third.
"It seemed like I didn't make the most of my chances," he
said. The 26-year-old Indonesian number one put a positive spin
on the result when he said: "It's good that Febi was able to beat
me. It means that there is someone else ready to replace me."