Indonesia avoids Swiss clean sweep in Davis Cup
JAKARTA (JP): Benny Wijaya denied a Swiss clean sweep at the Davis Cup World Group qualifier yesterday, as local tennis fans were disappointed by the absence of Swiss Olympic gold medalist Marc Rosset.
Indonesia's number one Benny gave his side a consolation win by breezing past unheralded Swiss Patrick Mohr, a reserve for big serving Rosset, 6-1, 6-3.
Swiss number two Jakob Hlasek dropped a set but his 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Suwandi helped Switzerland -- a losing Davis Cup finalist to the United States in 1992 -- wrap up the tie with 4- 1.
The visiting team fled for Matahari Island, a tourist resort at Seribu Islands off of North Jakarta, shortly after yesterday's indecisive two reverse singles matches, without giving any explanation about Rosset's absence.
Benny, rated 295th in the world, drilled his powerful serve and volley -- leaving error-prone Mohr the receiving side throughout the one hour and 14 minutes of play.
A scant crowd of 150 at the 2,000-seat Senayan tennis stadium found their thirst of victory fulfilled when Benny produced two breaks to race to a commanding 5-0 lead before sealing the first set.
Benny continued his power play which had Mohr, who looked unfamiliar with the rebound-ace surface of Senayan tennis court, running in the second set. Mohr tallied two more broken services in the fifth and the ninth games to give up the match to the host.
Slow-starter Suwandi, Indonesia's number two, was obviously in a different league from his world number 63 opponent, but managed to quietly match the Czech-born Hlasek stroke for stroke.
After losing the opening set, Suwandi tactfully showed his persistence against attack-minded Hlasek, capitalizing on every error made by the Swiss.
The Indonesian teenage often fired unexpected shots during a series of long rallies, which accurately landed Hlasek's unguarded ground. Suwandi broke Hlasek's serve in the eighth game while saving his own to force a decider.
Punishing shots
Experience, however, always gains the upper hand. Hlasek blasted five aces and punished Suwandi with powerful ground strokes, outlasting Suwandi's tenacious, one and a half hour challenge.
"At last, we managed to steal a point from a strong team. The win will be a confidence booster for Benny in the upcoming Asian Games," Indonesian non-playing captain Wailan Walalangi said.
Wailan denied that Rosset's failure to play had upset him. "It's okay," he said briefly.
Wailan said he was informed by referee Ken Farrar that Rosset drank too much on Saturday night during Swiss Davis Cup victory celebration. "Rosset also suffered from a minor injury to his leg," Wailan quoted Farrar as saying.
Speaking in another press conference, vice chairman of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Eichi Kuwatai of Japan declined to comment on the matter, saying that he was here in his capacity of a honorary guest.
"Rosset, anyway, should have played," he said. The ITF will discuss the case in November during its session in Portugal, based on reports made by Farrar, according to Kuwatai. (arf/amd)