Indonesians crash out of Masters

JAKARTA (JP): Two leading Indonesian players made early exits from the Indonesian Satellite Masters tennis tournament in Surabaya, East Java, yesterday.

Former national number one Suwandi failed to control his nerves in his first-round 6-3, 7-5 defeat to Bernd Christandl of Australia. In other opening-round action, Indonesian Davis Cupper Sulistyo Wibowo fought hard before crashing 6-7 (2-7), 3-6 to Blake Brinklow of Austria.

Indonesia's bid for the title now rests on sixth-seeded Andrian Raturandang, No. 7 seed Bonit Wiryawan and Dede Suhendar who all start their campaigns today.

Christiandl never faced any real opposition to his serve and volley game in the first set, thanks in part to Suwandi's erratic play. An error-prone Suwandi let the Australian step up a gear to complete the set in less than a half an hour.

Suwandi came back into it in the second set which became a close fight. Both held their own serve five times each but Suwandi lacked the firepower to maintain his challenge. (amd)