Doubles team keeps RI's Cup hopes alive
Doubles team keeps RI's Cup hopes alive
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's doubles players bounced back from two sets down to win the match in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone clash against South Korea yesterday.
A revitalized pair of Suwandi and Eddy Kusdaryanto outplayed South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik and Chang Eui-jong with a dramatic 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 6-2 win to put the score at 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
The duel will be decided in today's reverse singles matches, with Suwandi facing Lee and Andrian Raturandang taking on Yoon Yong-il.
Captains of the two sides decided not to follow the doubles with the reverse singles in order to give Suwandi and Lee a break after the exhausting doubles match which lasted almost four hours.
"Had South Korea won today's match, the reverse singles would have gone ahead as scheduled," tournament director Zainal Abidin said.
The organizers rescheduled the doubles match, which was supposed to played on Saturday, because of persistent rains that washed out Senayan's clay court and most of the capital.
"If rain continues to fall in the next two or three days, we have considered letting the International Tennis Federation decide what to do," Zainal said.
Thick clouds over Jakarta seemed to augur an upset loss for Suwandi and Eddy, whose shaky defense gave the South Koreans a match point in the tiebreak of the third set.
Ironically, the South Korean match-point was the turning-point of the game. Lee served for a winner at 7-6, but a nervy Chang spoiled the only golden chance with a wide volley.
The Indonesians maintained the momentum, coming up to the net for a number of volleys. They clinched the set after Lee hit a service return with a wide forehand.
Amid the cheering home crowd, Suwandi and Eddy rode their luck in the next two sets as their opponents drilled a number of unforced errors. The Indonesians stood firmly near the net to leave the Koreans' passing shots at bay.
South Korea praised the Indonesian doubles' recovery, but said that it would deny the home team a repeat of its brilliant comeback in 1988. Indonesia rebounded from 0-2 to win the next three matches eight years ago.
"Today's defeat matched our prediction. We decided not to let Yoon play doubles after learning from the 1988 drama. Instead, we rested him since we expect him to seal a win tomorrow," said non- playing captain Jeon Hyung-dai, who was a member of the South Korean 1988 team.
"Yoon has a better chance to win than Andrian," Jeon said.
Yoon overpowered Suwandi in three sets on Friday, before Lee made it 2-0 with a hard-earned four-set win over Andrian.
Suwandi declined a pre-match boast for the crucial rubber today. "Today's victory has boosted my confidence for tomorrow's match. I want to win that," he said. Suwandi has lost both of his encounters with Lee.
The winner of the Davis Cup match here will meet New Zealand in the second round in April, while the loser will face China in a zonal playoff match. New Zealand routed China 4-1 yesterday. (amd)