Indonesian boys' tennis team reaches quarters
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian boys' team maintained its 100 percent record going into the knock-out, last-eight, round of the World Junior Tennis Championship Asia/Oceania qualifying tournament here yesterday.
Following a 2-1 victory over Thailand yesterday, the Indonesian boys emerged the leading team in Group Three and will play Group Two runner-up South Korea for a place in the semifinals today.
South Korea suffered a 1-2 loss to India in another top-of-the-table match. Group Two winner India will now meet Thailand in the next round.
The boys' competition split the 14 participating teams into four groups. Only the top two teams in each group qualify for the quarterfinals. It was reported earlier that group winners automatically reached the semifinals.
In the girls' event, Indonesia beat the Philippines 2-1 for its third win in a row. The victory yesterday will guarantee Indonesia a place in the quarterfinals but nonplaying captain Alfred Raturandang was determined yesterday his team would finish first in the group. To do this top seed Indonesia will have to beat Chinese Taipei and India in its next matches.
Four teams in each of the two groups in the girls' competition will qualify for the quarterfinals.
The losing teams in the quarterfinals will play each other tomorrow to decide their placings.
Home favorite boys Eko Kurniawan and Naharuddin survived a scare in their encounter with Thailand, which they won 2-1.
First-choice singles Eko, unbeaten in the previous two group matches, appeared to think he had finished his job when he sped to a 6-4 first set lead over Tara Tantasuwanlert.
He then quickly ran out steam and, combined with many unforced errors, let Tara dictate the match and sweep the next sets 6-3, 6-2.
Tara's surprising win canceled out Indonesia's 1-0 lead after Naharuddin displayed a flawless quick game to beat Satta Saengsuwaro 6-2, 6-1 in the opening game.
Indonesia clinched the tie when Eko and Naharuddin breezed past Satta and Tara 6-2, 6-3.
The nonplaying captain of the Indonesian boys' team, Deddy Prasetyo, said that despite Edi's nervy play, his squad had progressed a lot. Therefore he expressed guarded optimism that Indonesia would overcome South Korea.
"I've studied the South Korean style and pattern of play," Deddy said.
Angelique Widjaya again displayed maturity beyond her age in her 6-2, 6-3 thrashing of the Philippines' Czarina Mae Arevalo. The win gave Indonesia an unassailable lead following Novianti Warsono's hard-earned 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Ma. Edna Charise Godoy.
Reserve doubles player Diana Yulianto was picked to team up with Novianti in the meaningless third rubber won by the Philippines' duo of Arevalo and Julie Ann Kristine Cadiente 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. (emf)