Indonesian pair advance to doubles final
Zakki Hakim The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Indonesian pair Septi Mende and Maya Rosa advanced on Saturday to the final of the US$10,000 Indonesia Women's Circuit tennis tournament after outrunning top-seeded pair Sania Mirza/Rushmi Chakravarthi of India.
They beat the Indians 6-2, 6-3. The latter have a ranking of 667.
"It feels great to beat the top seeds; moreover it was such a straightforward victory," Septi told The Jakarta Post after the match at the Jakarta Hilton tennis center.
"We're in top form," said Septi.
Meanwhile, Mirza of India said that Septi/Maya had played very well, while Chakravarthi and she had made too many mistakes.
"Besides, we were quite exhausted because we'd played many matches during the tournament," Chakravarthi added. The players have to play at least four matches per day during the week, especially those who also play in the doubles.
However, another Indonesian pair, Sandy Gumulya/Wukirasih Sawondari, was knocked out in the competition after losing in the semifinals to second seeds Wilawan Choptang of Thailand and Shruti Dhawan of India 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Septi/Maya will face 901- ranked pair Choptang/Dhawan in Sunday's final.
In the singles, top seed Sania Mirza of India marched into the final, but not without tough opposition from Shruti Dhawan.
Dhawan put up a surprising fight in the first set by pursuing Mirza from 2-5 behind to even the score to 5-5. However, Mirza closed out the first set 7-5 in her favor.
Dhawan then persistently hit hard strokes at Mirza and stole the second set 7-5. Eventually, 402-ranked Mirza closed out the match 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.
After the game, Mirza said that she was a bit frustrated in the match, "But I was determined to play well and it turned out well."
On Sunday's final, she will meet second seed Rushmi Chakravarthi, who earlier crushed Thassha Vitayaviroj 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals.
The final will be the fifth time for Mirza and Chakravarthi to face each other. In their previous four meetings, Chakravarthi beat Mirza 3-1.
Sunday's finals are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.