Indonesia crushes India 3-0 in Fed Cup opener

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian women's tennis team successfully kicked off its Federation Cup campaign in Guangzhou, China, on Monday, scoring a 3-0 victory over India in Asia-Oceania Group One play.

Angelique Widjaja opened things up for Indonesia by beating Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-1, 6-2, according to an official of the country's tennis governing body, Pelti.

After Wynne Prakusya defeated Manisha Malhotra 6-2, 6-3, to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead, the team had the opportunity to rest its top doubles team and instead field Wukirasih Sawondari and Diana Julianto.

However, Indonesia did not want to risk winning by a small margin, so it trotted out Angie, as Angelique is known, and Wynne for the doubles round.

The move paid off with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Rushmi and Manisha.

"In a round-robin format like the Fed Cup, we can't afford to squander an opportunity to win big. Otherwise, we could end up regretting the missed opportunity if we lost out on a tiebreaker at the end of the competition," Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said.

Indonesia is in Group A with Chinese Taipei, South Korea, New Zealand and India. Group B is made up of China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Uzbekistan.

The winners of the two groups will meet in the final, with the winner moving on to vie for a spot in the World Group.

With only five nations in the group, Tuesday will be an off day for Group A. Play will resume on Wednesday with Indonesia taking on Chinese Taipei.

Benny said that while the whitewash over India had been expected, the Chinese Taipei match would be a test for Indonesia and the outcome could not be predicted.

Wynne and Angie, ranked 100 and 126 respectively by the Women's Tennis Association, should have the upper hand over Chinese Taipei's Janet Lee and Hsieh Su Wei, who are ranked 108 and 153, respectively.

"But that does not guarantee a win for Wynne over Lee or Angie over Su Wei," Benny said.

When not competing in the Fed Cup, the Indonesian and Chinese Taipei players team up together for doubles matches -- Wynne with Lee and Angie with Su Wei.

"With them playing together in the doubles, they must already know each other's strengths and weaknesses. Now it is up to who is more prepared for the battle," Benny said.

Benny said that South Korea and New Zealand could also prove to be stumbling blocks for Indonesia.

South Korea is fielding Cho Yoon-jeong, ranked 116, and Jeon Mi-ra (252), while New Zealand is depending on Shelley Stephens (276) and Leanne Baker (399).