Letcher, Hsieh win int'l junior c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian sole survivor in the boy's singles Al Imron lost his dream of winning his first international title after bowing out to Clint Letcher of Australia 1-6, 1-6 in the 2000 Nabisco International Junior Championships final at the Senayan tennis complex on Saturday.

In the girl's final, Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei rebounded after much pressure to beat Australian Tiffany Welford 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Indonesian duo Eko Kurniawan and Nesa Artha overcame Letcher and Eko Putro of Indonesia 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to win the boy's doubles title late in the evening, while Diana Julianto and Maya Rosa outclassed Sandy Gumulya and Septi Nindya Yutami 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the all-Indonesian girl's doubles final.

Imron said that being a runner-up in the junior championships was his highest achievement so far.

"I performed poorly today. I couldn't develop my skills during the match. Letcher has hard and fast strokes and I could barely return his service. This is my highest achievement.

"I usually end up in the quarterfinals at the most in other junior championships. Maybe because there are only a few foreign players here so it was less competitive. Moreover, I play well on a clay court," said Imron, who competed in Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam before returning to Indonesia.

The girl's final event was halted for about half an hour due to a downpour. Welford led the first set with 6-2 at that time.

But when the second set resumed, Hsieh appeared to be more careful and tactical to take an early lead at 5-0. Welford managed to win a game but she looked frustrated when Hsieh, whose world junior rank is 47, was able to return her powerful strokes and ended the match at 6-1.

In the last set, Welford, who is the world's no. 224, managed to tie 1-1 with Hsieh. But the daughter of an Australian father and Banjarmasin-born mother lost her concentration when she did not see the ball and hit it astray. She was leading 2-1 up to that moment.

Hsieh was quick to take control from the fourth game. The remaining games saw Welford make many double fouls.

"Did you see when I missed the ball? I really couldn't see it," she said after the match. (ivy)