Indonesia falls short of securing elite berth

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's Fed Cup hopes for a slot in the World Group playoffs failed to materialize after Angelique Widjaja and Wynne Prakusya succumbed to host China in the final match in Guangzhou on Saturday.

Playing in Asia-Oceania's Group I, top seed Indonesia lost 1-2 to China, which was seeded fourth in the tournament.

Going into Saturday's fixture, Angie, as Angelique is more popularly known, had won all her matches to steer the team to the final. Unfortunately, she lost the game that mattered most, falling to Zheng Jie 4-6, 2-6.

Wynne seemed initially to be about to throw a lifeline to Indonesia when she took the first set 6-4 in her match against Li Na. But the Indonesian number one failed to hang on, crashing 0- 6, 2-6 in the next two sets.

Angie and Wynne earned a consolation point in the doubles over Li Na and Li Ting, with the Chinese resigning when Li Na suffered a thigh injury. The Indonesians were leading 4-3 in the opening set before she limped of the court.

Indonesia's non-playing captain Suzanna Anggarkusuma put her team's defeat down to nerves.

"They played shakily. They might have felt the pressure as they had to win the game," Suzanna said as quoted by Antara.

Indonesia now stays in the group while China gets promoted to the World Group playoffs to be held from July 20 to July 21.

Despite the failure to progress further, the Indonesian camp had something to cheer about as Angie, along with Uzbek Iroda Tulyaganova, was presented with an award from the Asian Tennis Federation for her impressive play which earned her the junior title in the 2001 Wimbledon championship and the doubles title in the 2002 Australian Open.