Indonesia trails Italy in Fed Cup tennis tie

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young Fed Cup team put up a brave fight yesterday but still lost both singles matches to Italy at Senayan tennis court, Central Jakarta.

The Indonesians will now have to take both reverse singles matches and the decisive doubles today to win the World Group Two playoff tie. Matches begin at 10 a.m.

The Italians gave the young Indonesians, both 16, lessons in clay court tennis and exposed their lack of match play experience.

Wukirasih Sawondari lost to Italian number one Silvia Farina 2-6, 4-6 in the opening match.

Wynne Prakusya played superbly and wrested the second set from Flora Perfetti before going down 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-6.

The Wukira-Farina match was closer than the score suggests but the Italian never looked in danger. Farina played aggressively throughout, but made frequent unforced errors as her opponent scrambled to retrieve her deep groundstrokes and occasional dropshots.

The Indonesian fought back from a disastrous first set start to run the Italian close in the second. Wukira lost her opening service game and found herself down 0-4 before getting on the scoreboard. Games continued with serve until Farina held to take the set.

But Wukira, ranked 714 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) computer to Farina's 40, began to find her range in the second set. Farina broke Wukira's serve at the start of the set, before the courts were swept and watered. The interruption seemed to disturb Farina's concentration, however, as she promptly lost her serve.

An inspired Wukira began to hit the ball deeper and mix up her shots, throwing up occasional moonballs to keep Farina behind the baseline. She also profited from some sloppy errors by the Italian. Breaks of serve went back and forth before Farina took a 4-3 lead.

Wukira had two points to break back in the next game, but the Italian managed to hold on and then took the match. Wukira still needs to learn proper shot selection and to be more aggressive. She was most successful when forcing the point instead of just keeping the ball in play.

Wynne Prakusya proved once again she is undaunted by playing for her country. The heroine of Indonesia's unbeaten run in the Fed Cup qualifiers in Auckland last March kept pace with Perfetti's patient baseline game to grab the second set in a cliff-hanger tiebreak.

Wynne's strong groundstrokes, particularly her forehand, delighted the crowd. She appeared exhausted in the final set and Perfetti took particular advantage of her weak service, which often did little other than put the ball in play.

"I started cramping in the final set and couldn't move very well at all," Wynne said after the match. "I felt like my whole body was stiff and I couldn't stay in the long rallies like I had in the first two sets."

There was no sign of Indonesian number one Yayuk Basuki at the stadium yesterday. Yayuk, who was scratched from the team lineup by the Indonesian Tennis Association in a dispute over the tie's playing surface, was reportedly visiting her ailing mother in Yogyakarta.