Indonesia advances to Fed Cup's World Group

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

Indonesia wrapped up a 4-1 victory in a playoff on Sunday to ensure a place in the 16-nation World Group of the Fed Cup women's team tennis championship.

Indonesia's victory at the Senayan tennis courts was decided by Angelique "Angie" Widjaja who defeated Tina Pisnik 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in two-and-a-half hours.

The win gave Indonesia an unassailable 3-0 lead after the hosts took the two matches on the opening day, and a berth in the World Group to emulate the success in 1991 when the competition was played under the old format.

At the end of the match, Angie was wildly applauded by the spectators, while Indonesia's non-playing captain gave her protege a hug, and the other team members -- Wynne Prakusya, Liza Andriani and Sandy Gumulya -- rushed off the benches to join the celebrations.

The players then made a victory lap to round off their triumphant run.

On Saturday, Angie, ranked 134, overcame No. 61 Katerina Srebotnik in a 6-4, 6-3 victory while Wynne, ranked 309, thumped No. 45 Pisnik 6-1, 6-4, an unexpected result given the Slovenians' far higher rankings.

Despite her decisive role, Angie refused to take all the credit.

"This is not my own success. This is the team's. This is the nation's achievement," Angie said in a press conference.

In the dead rubbers, the Indonesian team, who would otherwise have played Wynne, opted to give Liza Andriani a run against Andreja Klepac, who was fielded to replace Srebotnik.

Klepac defeated Liza 7-6 (2), 6-2, in what was to be the only point for the visiting team as Angie and Wynne emphasized the hosts dominance with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Andreja Klepac and Tina Krizan in the doubles later in the day.

After what appeared to be a relatively easy run on the opening day, the spectators might have expected another stroll on Sunday. Their hopes appeared justified when Angie pulled ahead to a 4-1 lead before sealing the fist set 6-4.

Howver, the competition became tighter in the second set as Pisnik upped the pace which resulted in Angie making a string of unforced errors.

Angie looked to be tiring, always having to fight a two-game deficit until the two players leveled at 4-4.

Angie then built an edge and had the chance to end the match when she was wrong-footed by a seemingly bad call from a linesman.

As Angie's temper boiled, Pisnik managed to use the momentum to take the set thanks to the impressive slices that gave her several points.

A 10-minute break seemed to be enough time for Angie to recover, and she was unstoppable in driving her opponent to a 6-1 defeat, during which time Pisnik conceded 12 unforced errors, including three double faults.

"In the second set, I played too defensively and began to tire. But I never gave up although I lost the second set," she said.

While admitting their disappointment, Slovenian team non- playing captain Mima Jausovec praised the home players performances.

"I am very disappointed by the fact that we dropped behind 3- 0. But your players have played well and they deserve the victory. Congratulations," Mima said.