Elbert, Takeuchi through to semifinals in Thamrin Cup
JP/11/OPEN
Elbert, Takeuchi on course for Thamrin final
Moch. N. Kurniawan Jakarta
Top seeds Elbert Sie and Kento Takeuchi moved a step closer to a showdown in the boys' finals after both reached the semifinals of the Thamrin Cup international junior tennis tournament here on Friday.
Top seed Elbert of Indonesia defeated Sho Aida of Japan 6-4, 6-4, while second seed Takeuchi of Japan beat Peerachat Chaiyapan of Thailand 6-2, 6-2 at the Senayan tennis courts.
Elbert will now play fourth seed Ryo Sekiguchi of Japan and Takeuchi will face Nick Lindahl of Australia.
Sekiguchi secured his semifinal ticket by defeating Hsu Yi-Che of Chinese Taipei 2-6, 7-6, 6-1. Lindahl thrashed another Chinese Taipei player, Huang Chin-Yu, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semis.
Elbert has improved over the course of the tournament and on Friday played with impressive restraint against Aida.
"I feel I have become more patient. I tried to improve my game by combining various shots because my opponent was also playing well," he said after the match.
The two players were involved in a tight match, with both breaking each other's serve. After taking the first set, Elbert maintained his rhythm to take a 3-1 lead in the second set after breaking Aida's serve.
Aida refused to lay down and tried to play more aggressively. He broke back in the fifth game and then won his own serve to tie up the set at 3-3.
Elbert seemed to lose a little bit of his confidence, but fortunately for him Aida began to tire as a result of his attacking play.
Elbert regained the lead and built it to 5-3 with another break. Aida returned to the attacking game and managed to close the gap by taking the next set.
But Elbert did not give Aida the chance to get any closer, serving out to win the set and the match.
In the girls' singles, Patricia Soesilo failed to maintain her winning form, falling to sixth seed Tinusa Sivaganam.
Patricia, who beat top seed Maya Rosa in Thursday's second round, lost to her Malaysian opponent 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted over two hours.
In the semifinals, Tinusa will meet unseeded Indonesian Mia Sacca, who beat Kamonthip Saovana of Thailand 6-2, 6-0.
The other semifinal match will feature Chen Lu-Ling of Chinese Taipei against Kim Ju-hyung of South Korea.
Chen advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Mika Kawai of Japan and Kim brushed aside Indonesian wild card Asri Purnawati 6-2, 6-3.