Four RI women reach Circuit 2nd round

JAKARTA (JP): Four national players passed their first test in the US$10,000 Indonesia Women's Circuit 4 at the Danamon tennis complex in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Old hand Irawati Moerid Iskandar defeated Susanne Filipp of Austria 6-3, 6-3 to meet the junior, Mudarwati. Mudarwati overcame Lan Lan Tai of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-4.

Rookie Angelique Widjaja, who qualified with a wild card, caused an upset beating senior Wukirasih Sawondari 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round. The 14-year-old Indonesian will challenge fourth seeded Diane Asencio of Switzerland, who had to work hard to beat qualifier Mimma Chernovita of Indonesia 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Liza Andriyani, a member of the national team, knocked out Lucia Tallo of Switzerland 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Liza will meet Olga Kaliojnaja of Russia, who had to sweat to beat fifth seed Orawan Wongkamalasai of Thailand 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5).

Top seeded Benjamas Sangaram of Thailand, last week's circuit champion, gave a free tennis lesson to Indonesian Frederika Girsang winning 6-1, 6-1. Sangaram will face Saemi Kim of South Korea, who beat Australia's Michelle Grobby 6-1, 6-3.

Second seed Jayaramsai Jayalakshmy of India, who reached the semifinals last week, comfortably beat Indonesian newcomer Suci Bungaran 6-2, 6-2 to meet Montika Anuchan of Thailand. Anuchan beat Dea Sumantri 6-2, 6-1.

Third seed Satomi Kinjo of Japan, last week's circuit runner- up, bowed out to unseeded Suchanan Viratprasert of Thailand 6-2, 4-6, 3-6. Viratprasert will challenge Nina Janzekovic of Slovenia, who beat Veronika Ctvrtnickova of the Czech Republic 7- 5, 6-1.

In the doubles, top seeds Liza Andriyani of Indonesia and Benjamas Sangaram of Thailand will face their first test on Thursday when they meet Frederika Girsang of Indonesia and Olga Kaliojnana of Russia.

Second seeds Rushmi Chakravarthi and Jayaramsai Jayalakshmy of India will have to meet teammates Archana Venkataraman and Arthi Venkataraman in the first round. (yan)