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.