Febi and Ayu give Detec double victory at Hemaviton Challenge

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Detec tennis club players dominated the Hemaviton Challenge 2005 here on Sunday with Febi Widhiyanto and Ayu Fani Damayanti winning the men's singles and women's singles respectively.

Entering the final match on the backdrop of his three-set win over Prima Simpatiaji in the semifinals on Saturday, third seed Febi was blanked in the opening set before coming back to defeat second seed Suwandi of West Java 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the Senayan tennis courts in Central Jakarta.

The Jakarta-based player's success was followed by Ayu, his female junior in Detec, who won the title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Maya Rosa.

"I hurried in the first set, and Suwandi just had control over me," Febi said after the match.

"But I tried to play with more restraint in the second and third set, while at the other end Suwandi's shots did not look accurate anymore," added Febi, who brought home the winners prize of Rp 18 million.

Suwandi came on strong early in the match, giving Febi no chance to develop his game, with the former Indonesian No. 1 ending the first set without conceding a single game.

Having been totally dominated in the opener, Febi regrouped. He played with more determination to break Suwandi's serve in game one and seven, while Suwandi's forehands and backhands began to misfire.

Suwandi tried to come back in the third set but Febi refused to sit back, taking a 3-1 lead, with his neatly placed shots at Suwandi's left courtside producing most winners.

Febi lost another two games before wrapping the set and the match when Suwandi's backhand, again, hit the net.

In the women's division, Ayu and Maya did not seem to be in their best form with both alternately making unforced errors.

Ayu admitted to suffering a twist in her eye vision during the first set. She said her vision suddenly blurred and she was unable to see the ball clearly when she was leading at 3-1.

"My right eye could not see and suddenly I had terrible headache," she said. "Since then I played with one eye, so ...as you see ... my shots were very bad."

Luckily for Ayu, Maya was playing far below her best form.

Maya said she rushed the play resulting in her making a flurry of unforced errors.

"I just did not play like the way I did in the semifinal against Liza Andriyani," she said.

Ayu collected the top cash prize of Rp 14 million.

Suwandi made amends for his disappointing singles match by winning the doubles with Bonit Wiryawan. They beat Febi/Hendri Susilo Pramono 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-2, while Ayu made it double victory.

Pairing with Septi Mende, she took her second win in the doubles with 6-3, 6-0 drubbing of Maya/Denise Harijanto 6-3, 6-0.