Davis Cup members into Cigna third round
Davis Cup members into Cigna third round
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Davis Cup squad members marched to the third round as the Cigna Open tennis championship took its toll in the women's singles seeds at the Hilton Executive Club Hardcourts on Wednesday.
Suwandi, who is top seed at the Rp 60 million tournament, defeated Johan Samawi 6-2, 6-4 in the match interrupted by rain.
Hendri Susilo Pramono shrugged off the effect of his upper-arm injury to overcome Yohanes Pinto 6-1, 7-6, while his doubles partner Febi Widhiyanto cruised past Omar Mokhtar 6-1, 6-4.
Hendri and Febi also teamed up in the doubles to chalk up an easy 6-0, 6-4 win over M. Rasyid and Rendy Reo.
"I have been undergoing a therapy. I'm still feeling the pain but that's no problem," he said after the doubles match.
Hendri, who sustained the injury in their 2-3 loss to New Zealand in a Davis Cup fixture last week, hinted he would have preferred to abandon the Cigna competition and take a rest as recommended by his mentor Deddy Prasetyo.
"I have already started playing in here and I can't retreat," he said.
The only Davis Cup player opting out is Peter Handoyo, who contributed the two points for the Indonesian team against New Zealand.
Suwandi, who lost twice in the New Zealand match, raced to a 4-0 lead against little known Johan before taking the first set 6-2. But his opponent posed resistant play in the second game.
Johan evened the games at 4-4 and was trailing at 30-40 when the rain set in to delay the match.
It resumed more than a hour later with Suwandi having seemed to rediscover his rhythm to take the following two games.
In the next round, he will be tested by Eko Kurniawan, who beat veteran Yustedjo Tarik 7-5, 6-3.
However, his fellow women's top seed, Wukirasih Sawondari was humiliated by Diana Julianto, number 23 in the national rankings, succumbing to a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 loss, in the match also held up twice by the rain.
"I don't know I could not display relaxedly. I looked to be feeling a tension, it may be because I was playing as the top seed," she said.
She now banks on the women's doubles contention in which she partners with Liza Andriani.
Except for Wukirasih, the other seeds have remain in prizes pursuit with Liza brushing aside Uce Verianti 6-0, 6-1 and Eny Sulistiowati trampling over Febri Joana 6-2, 6-1.