Indonesia moves to men's tennis team final in Asiad
Indonesia moves to men's tennis team final in Asiad
HIROSHIMA, Japan (Agencies): Indonesia moved closer to
regaining its men's team tennis gold medal after winning both
singles for an insurmountable 2-0 lead over host Japan in their
semifinal yesterday.
A Benny Wijaya-led squad will renew an Indonesia-India duel at
the Asian Games tomorrow. In the other semifinal, Leander Paes
brought India to a 3-0 drubbing of Malaysia, an upset
quarterfinal winner against defending champion South Korea on
Tuesday.
It will be Indonesia's third Asian Games success if it manages
to shrug off the odds against favorite India. Indonesia took the
gold medal in 1978 and retained the title four years later by
beating India. Both sides left the 1990 event as bronze
medalists.
Inspired by his women teammates who secured a final's berth on
Tuesday, Suwandi played his best tennis to breeze past Goichi
Motomura 6-2, 6-3 in the first singles. The 17-year-old Southeast
Asian Games gold medalist did everything right, firing his cross
court groundstrokes from his baseline.
Japan should blame its abortive campaign on number one player
Shuzo Matsuoka who preferred improving his world ranking than
backing his national team as Benny put Indonesia 2-0 ahead after
edging past Yasufumi Yamamoto 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3.
A serve-and-volleyer, Benny, number one at home, labored in
the opening set and played an energy saving game in the second on
the way to overcoming the determined Yamamoto.
Indonesia's coach Wailan Walalangi said: "I'm so glad that we
made the final in both the men's and women's team event for the
first time since 1982. But it will be very difficult to beat
India."
Yayuk Basuki led the Indonesian women's team to set up a final
rematch against Japan today after ousting China 2-1 on Tuesday.
India
India's victory over Malaysia gave Paes and company a chance
to carve out a piece of tennis history by winning its first gold
medal at the Asian Games.
"Yesterday, it was tough, because we lost the first match, but
Asif Ismail played a very good match this morning and beat
Ramaiah," Paes said.
Ismail, who lost his singles before he and Paes narrowly
clinched the decisive doubles in two tie-breakers against Taiwan
on Tuesday, was a different player yesterday. He coasted to a
comfortable 6-1, 7-5 win over Ramachandran Ramaiah.
Then Paes, the hero of India's semi-final run in last year's
Davis Cup, gave them an insurmountable 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2
win over Adam Malik.
Syed Zeeshan Ali and Grurav Natekar took the doubles against
Wilson Kim Huat Khoo and Ramaiah 6-1, 6-4.
"I haven't yet won it, but we are getting closer," said Paes,
a former Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior champion.
"But again we've got to give effort, we've just got keep
trying our best. Tomorrow, we have a day off, we need to look
after ourselves, practice and be ready for the day after
tomorrow.
"People say I'm the top favorite, but I just go out there and
try my best. Who knows what'll happen," added the 21-year-old.