'Indonesia has 50-50 chance against Slovenia'
'Indonesia has 50-50 chance against Slovenia'
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta
Indonesia will take on Slovenia in the World Group playoffs of
the Federation Cup women's team tennis championship here at the
weekend with the team giving itself a 50-50 winning chance.
The matches will be held at the Senayan tennis courts on
Saturday and Sunday.
Indonesia's non-playing captain Suzanna Wibowo said that
Slovenia's players should have a bit of edge, given that they had
a better average international ranking than Indonesian players'.
"But we will have the advantage of playing to a home crowd.
Wynne Prakusya also has a better personal achievement than
Slovenian players, both in singles and doubles," Suzanna said on
Tuesday on the sidelines of witnessing the signing of a
cooperation between the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) and
Samsung Electronics here.
Wynne beat Katerine Srebotnik 6-3, 7-5 in their only previous
meeting, although that was back in 1999 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Indonesian team consists of Angelique "Angie" Widjaja,
ranked 134 in the world, Wynne Prakusya ranked 309, Sandy Gumulya
ranked 427 and Liza Andriyani ranked 510.
The Slovenian team will comprise Tina Pisnik ranked 45,
Katerina Srebotnik ranked 61, Andreja Klepac ranked 564 and non-
ranked Tina Krizan.
As they had a lower average ranking than the Slovenians, the
host players, according to Suzanna, would not experience
psychological pressure in the matches, which should be an
advantage.
"This time, we shouldn't be worried about the pressure of
winning the matches," she said.
"And this will have a positive effect on the players, as they
will play like they have nothing to lose," she added.
Indonesia has secured a place in the World Group playoffs this
year, along with Thailand, after the two won in the Zone I Asia
Oceania qualifications in India in April.
If Indonesia wins the playoff against Slovenia, it will
advance to the World Group. A loss will consign the team to a
regional qualification next year.
Last year, Indonesia also won the zonal qualification together
with Japan, but lost to Germany 3-2 in the playoff in Jakarta.
Suzanna said the pressure in last year's playoff against
Germany was so high, given that the two players were almost equal
in their ranking average.
She recalled Indonesia's match against Japan here in
February's Davis Cup, the men's version of the world's team
tennis competition.
The Indonesian men's team put up a tough fight against
favorite Japan to level at 2-2 before going down 3-2.
Indonesian and Slovenian players will enter their playoff
against the backdrop of their mediocre performances.
Angie lost in the first round at Wimbledon, although she
reached the doubles quarterfinals with Maria Vento-Kabchi of
Venezuela.
Wynne fared worse, dropping out in the qualifying matches.
Last month, she also flopped early in Beijing, but had something
to cheer about when she won the doubles with Chuan Chia-Jung of
Chinese Taipei.
Pisnik also lost in the first round of Wimbledon, while
Srebotnik was stopped in the second round of the tournament.