'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.