Indonesia keeps Davis Cup hopes alive in Davis Cup play-off
Indonesia keeps Davis Cup hopes alive in Davis Cup play-off
JAKARTA (Agencies): The solid partnership of Bonit Wiryawan
and Sulistyo Wibowo stormed to a convincing straight-sets win
yesterday to keep Indonesian hopes alive in its Davis Cup Asia
Oceania third-round play-off against Chinese Taipei.
The visiting Indonesians opted to pick Bonit in place of
Sebastian da Costa to team up with Sulistyo in yesterday's
crucial match after going 2-0 down in the first day on Friday.
Taiwanese Olympic doubles team of Chen Chih Jun and Lien Yun
Hai disappointed their home crowd with the 2-6, 4-6, 3-6 loss,
but non-playing captain Hwang Moon Choul vowed afterward that his
side would take the remaining two singles matches today.
Taiwan number one Tsai Chia Yen will play his Indonesian
counterpart Andrian Raturandang, before Chen takes on Bonit in
the last match.
The last-minute substitution paid off as Bonit, once
Indonesia's best doubles specialist, quickly adapted to the power
play initiated by teammate Sulistyo.
The Indonesians swept five successive games to race to a
commanding 5-1 lead in the opening set, which saw Davis Cup
debutant Sulistyo blast four aces and serve well for two love
games.
Chen and Lien came back strongly in the second set, breaking
serve to pull level at 4-4. But Bonit showed his dominance at the
net with numerous winning volleys as big serving Sulistyo steered
the match from the baseline to take the set.
The Indonesians faced no serious opposition from the
frustrated Taiwanese in the third set.
"I had predicted earlier that Bonit and Sulistyo would play,
but I never thought that they would be that great," Hwang said in
the press conference.
"Lien was not in his best form after suffering a strained
muscle in his waist after the Olympic Games," Hwang added. The
Taiwanese duo have not played in any tournaments since the
Olympics last July.
Favorite France, overconfident and unable to dictate play
despite partisan home support and a faster indoor surface
especially chosen to upset Italy's clay-court specialists, left
itself a mountain to climb in its Davis Cup semifinal showdown in
Nantes on Friday.
It lost both of the opening singles -- Cedric Pioline going
down 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to Andrea Gaudenzi and Arnaud
Boetsch then crashing 5-7, 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7) to Renzo Furlan.
And 30-year-old Stefan Edberg's final fling in the competition
before his end-of-season retirement could well be extended. His
7-6 (7-2), 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over Daniel Vacek gave Sweden a 2-0
lead in the other semifinal against the Czech Republic in Prague.
Earlier an impressive Thomas Enqvist beat former French Open
finalist Petr Korda 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9).
Gaudenzi, 23, who trains with Austrian Thomas Muster,
demolished Pioline with his steady baseline aggression to chalk
up his fourth victory over the French number-one in five career
encounters.
And Boetsch, who was constantly left stranded at the net by
Furlan's deadly accurate cross-court passing shots, threw away a
5-1 lead in the fourth set tie-break.
France had gone into the tie oozing confidence after posting
5-0 victories over Denmark and Germany in previous rounds.
"The Italians deserve their lead," admitted French captain
Yannick Noah after the defeats.
Pioline's first serves slumped from a 45 percent success rate
in the first set to a lowly 36 percent in the last.
Noah went on: "As for Arnaud -- he got off to a bad start and,
although he managed to come back, and despite the fact that the
final result was close, he clearly choked at the end."
"Now we must concentrate all our efforts on tomorrow's
doubles."
Italy, which has won the event only once (in 1976) has not
reached the final since 1980. But it could well rectify that as
early as Saturday if Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso upset veteran
left-hander Guy Forget and Guillaume Raoux.
Former world number-one Stefan Edberg, who made his Davis Cup
debut twelve years ago when he helped Sweden defeat the United
States in the final, admitted: "The key for me today was to win
the first set. That was very important."
"I felt like I was playing some good tennis and I didn't have
any problems from my heel injury. Obviously it would be a
wonderful final curtain for me if we reach the final and then
play for the trophy back home in Switzerland."
Like the French, the Czechs, who notched up a shock win over
defending champions the United States in the quarter-finals in
April, can afford no more slips when play resumes with the
Saturday doubles.
The Swedes, five-times champions, will field Jonas Bjorkman
and Nicklas Kulti against the home pair Bohdan Ulihrach and Jiri
Novak.
In the World Group qualifying round clashes, Croatia, despite
playing at home in Split, ended the day 2-0 down to the
Australians. The visitors' hero was Jason Stoltenberg who beat
big-serving Goran Ivanisevic in a five-set thriller.
Earlier Mark Philippoussis dropped only seven games in the
opening singles against Sasa Hirszon.
Austria squandered its chance of taking a 2-0 first-day lead
in its Davis Cup World Group qualifying group clash against
Brazil in Sao Paulo and ended up sharing honors at 1-1.
Thomas Muster powered his way to a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over
home player Fernando Meligeni but then his compatriot Markus
Hipfl let slip a two sets to love lead against Gustavo Kuerten,
lost two tie-breaks in which he didn't win a point, and finally
surrendered 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (0-7), 6-7 (0-7), 1-6.
Rain held up Belgium and Spain while injury pinned back the
Netherlands.
In Bucharest, Belgium made a bright start when Johan Van Herck
defeated Adrian Voinea 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 while in
Tarragona, Alberto Costa gave Spain a winning start against
Denmark by overwhelming Fredrik Fetterlein 6-0, 6-0, 6-2. Rain
then postponed the second singles until Saturday.
Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, leading 6-7 (5-7), 6-3,
6-4, 1-4, had to pull out of his match against New Zealander
Alistair Hunt because of a knee injury.
The result left the two sides level-pegging. Jan Siemerink
earlier defeated Brett Steven in an exciting five-set marathon.