De Lone to meet Carlsson in final
De Lone to meet Carlsson in final
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Erika De Lone of the U.S. will face Asa Carlsson of Sweden in the final of the US$180,000 Wismilak International '99 after they won their semifinals on Saturday.
Unseeded De Lone had an easy match against Rita Grande of Italy 6-3, 6-2, while Carlsson had to pump out her energy to eliminate Joannette Kruger of South Africa 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.
Grande, cheered by local spectators, failed to overcome De Lone's crossing strokes. Grande, Women's Tennis Association (WTA) number 63, opened the first set by taking the first game 1-0 through her hard serves. But De Lone took control to lead 5-1. Grande only managed to win one more game, 2-5, before De Lone concluded the first set 6-2.
In the second set, both players tied 3-3 until the sixth game. Starting from the seventh game, Grande failed to overcome De Lone's down-the-line forehands and backhands to give up 3-6.
The Carlsson-Kruger semifinal was more interesting as both players fought hard from the first game to force a tie break before Carlsson won 7-5.
In the second set, Carlsson made unforced errors to be downed 1-3, but she managed to equal 3-3 before leading 4-3. But Kruger fought back to tie 4-4 and both players took one more game each for 5-5 before Carlsson won 7-5.
RCTI will air live the final match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Wismilak general manager, Willy Walla, said he would try to negotiate with the WTA to return the tournament to Surabaya next year.
"The WTA still appoints Kuala Lumpur as the host of the tournament but we'll try to negotiate until the end of the year. We'll give a security guarantee to make them change the decision," he said.
WTA moved the tournament from Surabaya due to security worries in Indonesia. The tournament was not featured last year.
In Perth, Australia, Indonesian junior players only finished 14th in the Under-16 World Youth Cup after bowing out to Uruguay 2-1 on Saturday, AFP reported.
Dea Sumantri defeated Rosina Yeregui 6-4, 7-5 but teammate Angelique Wijaya lost to Lucia Migliarini 1-6, 3-6. In the doubles, Dea and Angelique failed to win over Migliarini and Yeregui to lose 3-6, 2-6. (yan)