Febi to open Indonesia's Davis Cup bid against NZ

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Davis Cup team will be looking to retain its place in Group I when it takes on New Zealand in the Asia-Oceania playoffs at the Bung Karno Tennis Open Stadium here on Friday.

Indonesia has been condemned to the playoff against the Kiwis after it lost to Japan in the first round 3-2 here in February.

Febi Widhiyanto, who contributed both points in the Japan encounter, will open Indonesia's campaign with a match against Matthew Prentice, 23, on Friday.

Prima Simpatiadji will play Mark Nielsen, 26, in the second singles later in the day. In Saturday's doubles match, host pair Suwandi and Bonit Wiryawan will take on visiting duo of Lee Radovanovich, 21, and William Ward, 18.

Bonit, 36, has been included on the team as the last-ditch replacement of Hendri Susilo Pramono who is sidelined by a sore throat.

It will extend to Sunday when the two teams will play reverse singles with Febi playing Nielsen and Prima against Prentice.

Given past records in which Indonesia has lost in all of their three match-ups, the hosts might be expecting another daunting task.

However, Indonesia's non-playing captain Tintus Arianto Wibowo looked optimistic about the prospects, saying that the order of play should give an advantage to his side.

Looking ahead for the opening match, he believed that Febi would have a good chance of stealing the first point.

"I hope that Febi will have his 'A' game on," Tintus said.

He hinted that his team could take both matches on the opening day but he said that he would not let his players be pressured by overly high hopes.

Because they have never met, Febi said that he could not assess Prentice's strengths.

"I hope that observing him and his teammates' play during their training session would give me a bit of knowledge," Febi said, adding that he would do his best.

Prima will take the court holding the upper hand against his New Zealand opponent, because the Indonesian won their only previous meeting in China in 2002.

A win over New Zealand will keep Indonesian in Group I for next year's round.

However, it is not an easy task as the visitors have arrived here also looking for their own redemption after they were dumped by India led by Davis Cup veteran Leander Paes.

Team captain Bruce Derlin said that his team had been preparing hard and learned a lot from February's defeat.

"We were unlucky that we failed to beat India, but we have gained more learning experience each time and we are getting to know each other's play. We are becoming a much better side," Derlin said.

Derlin said that his team was physically and psychologically ready for the Indonesia match in front the fanatic home fans and high humidity.

"We are up for the challenge. Davis Cup is a long tradition for us and we are 110 percent ready," Derlin said.

Prentice said that his last match against Prima was quite tight and he was looking forward to playing the Indonesian youngster once again on Friday.

The match will start at 10 a.m. with an entrance fee of Rp 20,000 (US$2.35).