Home favorites fall in 1st round
Home favorites fall in 1st round
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia waged a bleak campaign at the US$300,000 Indonesia Men's Open tennis championships as its three top players crashed to first-round defeats yesterday.
The home favorites, two of them wild-card entrants, fought tooth and nail but were no match for their stronger opponents.
The fact that the country's most lucrative tennis event serves local talent as a training ground for accumulating experience somewhat softened the bitter slap in the face for the Indonesian losers.
National number two Suwandi was the first to receive the tough tennis lesson when he went down 6-7 (4-7), 2-6 to big serving Canadian Greg Rusedski. Doubles ace Bonit Wiryawan followed in the footstep of his countryman, losing to Martin Sinner of Germany 4-6, 1-6. Indonesian Master champion Donny Susetyo sealed yesterday's bitter fate with a 1-6, 3-6 defeat to Venezuelan Nicolas Ferreira.
"I was beaten by big serves. I think we are in the same league, except for those bomb-like serves," Suwandi, who suffered his third opening-round defeat at the tournament, grumbled after his match. Rusedski is among the current tennis powers, with blasting serves that clock up to 220 kilometers per hour.
The Canadian world number 114 pulled out his characteristic weapons to race to a 3-1 lead, but tallied too many unforced errors to drop the sixth game. However, Suwandi remained in big trouble with his service returns. He was left trailing behind before losing the tie breaker.
Rusedski kept up the attack-minded play, pinning Suwandi on his baseline. Suwandi, who struggled at the back court, slowed down the pace with his overhead lobs. But towering Rusedski used every smashing chance to flawlessly seal the match.
The Canadian, who takes on Rodolphe Gilbert of France in tomorrow's second round, gave his lowly wild-card opponent a little bit of encouragement. "He's very talented. His backhand drives and ground strokes are great," Rusedski said.
Another wild-card entrant Donny could not cope with his nerves, making unnecessary mistakes to face ultimate demolition by Ferreira. The Venezuelan world number 116 will race for a third round berth against Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, who edged out Australian doubles wizard David Adams 6-3, 6-2.
Bonit, who qualified for the main draw by beating Ronald Agenor of Haiti, was another victim of power play orchestrated by his German rival. Serve and volleyer Sinner was troubled only a little bit in the opening set. He made a short work of his opponent in the second.
Indonesia is now banking on its number one Benny Wijaya. The world number 279 wild-card entrant meets fourth seed Markus Zoecke of Germany today. Benny reached the third round last year with a surprising victory over Russian Andrei Olhovskiy, who is seeded eighth this year. (amd)