Da Costa Indonesia's sole remaining hope at Futures

JAKARTA (JP): Sebastian Da Costa was on Friday the only national player to survive the Indonesia Futures F5 at the Danamon tennis complex in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Da Costa, an East Timorese, reached the semifinals after top seeded Jan Hermansson of Sweden was forced to retire due to the heat. The Indonesian was leading at that stage 4-6, 7-5, 1-0.

Da Costa will face fifth seeded Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan in Saturday's semis.

Qureshi defeated Hendri Susilo Pramono, a member of the national team, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.

In another semifinal match, Steven Byl of the Netherlands will face second seeded Danai Udomchoke of Thailand.

Byl upset fourth seeded Akira Matsushita of Japan 6-2, 3-6, 6- 3, while Udomchoke quashed the dreams of Indonesia's new young talent Febi Widhiyanto by winning 6-2, 6-2.

Febi, who was looking to get even with Udomchoke following a loss in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in August, said: "Danai played really well today and I couldn't give my best performance this time.

"We both fought really hard in early games but when he started to lead I became more confused because I could not overcome the pressure."

In the doubles, top seeded players Thomas Shimada of Japan and Myles Wakefield of South Africa barely broke into a sweat after their easy win over Byl and Ruben de Kleijn of the Netherlands 6- 0, 6-3.

They will face Indonesia's top partnership of Febi and Hendri, who enjoyed a walkover against Minh Le and Qureshi. Quereshi was forced to withdraw after suffering a cramp in his foot during a singles match against Hendri.

Speaking on his chances in the doubles, Febi said: "Shimada and Wakefield are world number 285. They must be good, but I just wanted to try my best."

In another semifinal match, the second seeded pair of Satoshi Iwabuchi and Hideki Kaneko of Japan reached the semis after winning 6-4, 6-3 over Pracharapol Khamsaman and Udomchoke of Thailand.

The Japanese duo will challenge Thailand's Suparath Chukwan and Ekharin Pisuth-Arnonth, who defeated fourth seeded players Matsushita and Hiroyasu Sato of Japan 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. (yan)