Home favorite Angie cruises into Bali quarters

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Indonesian starlet tennis player Angelique Widjaya cruised to the quarterfinals while compatriot Wynne Prakusya slumped at the US$170,000 Wismilak International tennis tournament here on Thursday.

Angelique, who is better known as Angie, did not have to play at all as her opponent, Australian Alicia Molik, retired suffering from flu and dehydration.

Angie will now challenge the second seed, seasoned Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, who defeated Alexandra Fusai of France with a 6-2, 6-4 win.

"I will do my best and take the initiative. Tamarine has good backhand, but I will not let her control the match," Angie told reporters.

Meanwhile, Angie's coach, Deddy Tedjamukti, also shared the same opinion while emphasizing that Angie should control her emotions.

"Anyone who plays against Tamarine has to possess a high level of patience. Those who are able to control their emotions will have a greater chance of winning the match," he said.

Angie is the only host representative in the quarterfinals as Wynne was defeated 6-7 (2-8), 6-2, 3-6 by Japanese Shinobu Asagoe in a three-set match.

Wynne took the first lead of 3-0 but made too many unforced errors allowing Asagoe to equalize 3-3 and eventually take the first set.

Wynne, however, did not find it difficult to win the second set.

Entering the third set, Wynne suffered a thigh cramp and had to be massaged to reduce the pain. Despite the agony, she still produced two aces and took the first lead of 2-0 before Asagoe equalized 3-3 and sealed the match with a 6-3 victory.

"My injury prevented me from winning the match but I did my best," Wynne said after the match. "Asagoe played very well today and she could return all my balls."

Wynne and Asagoe have now met three times with Asagoe winning all the matches.

Asagoe goes on to face Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei who upset veteran Rachel McQuillan of Australia with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win.

Meanwhile, first seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario cruised to the quarterfinals defeating Janet Lee of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-3. Sanchez-Vicario will face fifth seed Italian Rita Grande.

The other quarterfinals match will see Tina Pisnik of Slovenia facing eighth seed Joannette Kruger of South Africa.

In the doubles event, Evie Dominikovic of Australia and Tamarine cruised to the semifinals having an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mireille Dittmann of Australia and Japanese Keiko Tameishi.

Dominikovic and Tamarine will now meet Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi and American Tu Meilen who bested Angie and American Tracy Almeda-Singian 6-2, 6-2.

Old hands Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia and Sanchez-Vicario, seeded third here, had a walkover win over Mariana Diaz-Olivia of Argentine and Marlene Weingartner of Germany as Diaz-Olivia fell sick.

The veterans will be challenged by second seeded youngsters Lee and Wynee who had another walkover win against the Australian pair of Molik and Nicole Pratt.

The tennis players were not only concentrating on their matches but also shared some of their knowledge with the ball boys and ball girls at a tennis clinic.

In the first session, Grande and Almeda-Singian showed the correct way to send forehand and backhand shots as well as displaying their ball accuracy. Meanwhile, Yayuk and Tamarine showed how to volley during the second session. (54)