Indonesia wins three titles in Astra Junior c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia won three titles, in its best performance ever, in the 10th Indonesia Astra International Junior Championships yesterday at the Hilton Hotel tennis courts.

Wynne Prakusya, a member of the Federation Cup team, won the girls singles. Wynne and Eny Sulistyowati won the girls doubles and Febi Widhiyanto took the boys singles title. Febi and Hendri Susilo Pramono failed to make a clean sweep when they were beaten in the boys doubles final.

Wynne defeated Veronika Koksova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (7- 9), 6-4, 7-5 in a match which lasted two hours and 10 minutes.

First-seeded Wynne got off to a shaky start. And both players had to fight hard for every point to take the score to 6-6.

Eighth-seeded Koksova played better in the tie break and won the first set 9-7.

In the second set, Wynne led 3-0 before losing her serve. The Czech then took over the lead at 4-3.

With about 100 spectators barracking for her, Wynne equalized the score 4-4 before winning the set 6-4 in only 30 minutes.

In the deciding set, the 16-year-old Wynne -- whose ITF ranking is 93 -- led 2-0 before Koksova took over the lead 3-2.

Wynne equalized at 3-3 but Koksova surged to 4-3. Both players worked hard for every point to reach 5-5.

Wynne broke Koksova's serve and won the match 7-5.

"Koksova played very well today. Her stokes were flat and luckily my footwork was fast enough to hit the ball. I think I played well too," Wynne said.

Wynne and Eny, also a member of the Fed Cup team, had won the All-Indonesian girls doubles final 6-3, 6-4 against Lianasari Batubara and Wukirasih Sawondari.

In the boys singles, Febi Widhiyanto worked extra hard to overcome Davor Grgic of Croatia 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 55 minutes.

Grgic led 4-1 before Febi found his rhythm to come back to 3- 4. But a 25-minute rain disruption ruined his concentration and he lost the first set 3-6.

In the second set, Febi lead 4-2 and only gave the Croat one more game before the 17-year-old won the set 6-3.

Both Febi and Grgic seemed to suffer in the heat in the third set. They fought on to take the score to 4-4. But Feby, with the local fans behind him, went on to win 6-4.

"I was nervous in the beginning. Besides Grgic's strokes were very strong and he rarely made unforced errors. His double backhands were good," Febi said.

"The rain really disturbed my concentration. I was in a very bad mood and I had to stop it. It was hard to get concentrate again," he added.

Unfortunately, Febi and partner Hendri Susilo Pramono failed to made a hat trick of winning three consecutive international junior championships on the Asian tour.

They lost to Josef Nesticky of the Czech Republic and Jurgen Melzer of Austria 4-6, 6-7 (1-7).

"My physical condition got worse because I have had to play singles and doubles everyday. I almost couldn't stand it," Febi said.

Febi and Hendri, who hope to reach the quarterfinals in the Thailand international junior championships, flew directly to Thailand after the match. (yan)