Mia sparks Indonesia's triumph at Thamrin Cup

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

Mia Sacca of Indonesia won the girls' singles of the Thamrin Cup international junior tennis championship as local teenagers triumphed in all but one event on Sunday.

Mia came back from a set down to beat Chen Cu-Ling of Chinese Taipei 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the match between two unseeded players to win her first international trophy.

The other two titles for the Indonesian teenage players were secured in the girls doubles and in boys doubles, while the boys singles title went to Japan.

Top seeds Maya Rosa and Denise Harijanto defeated Lavinia Tananta Golda Rubina 7-5, 6-3 in an all-Indonesia final of the girls doubles.

Second seeds Elbert Sie of Indonesia and Stepan Rosani of Australia were awarded the victory over unseeded pair of Huang Chu-Hsuan and Lee Tung-Huan of Chinese Taipei.

The opponents withdrew from the match due to Huang's stomach problem with Elbert and Rosani winning the first set 6-3.

The victory was some consolation for Elbert, who was denied a final match in the boys' singles after the top seed was stunned by eventual winner Ryo Sekiguchi of Japan in the semifinals on Saturday.

Sekiguchi breezed to his title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over unseeded Nick Lindahl of Australia.

With Elbert already denied the title, the home fans's hopes for the most prestigious titles could have been shattered when Mia squandered a 4-0 lead to lose the first set against Chen.

But Mia, who is coached by Indonesian tennis legend Yayuk Basuki, regrouped to take the remaining two sets.

"Auntie Yayuk's support was an encouragement to me. She kept reminding me to get focused on every game particularly after I lost the first set," she said after the match.

After being stunned in the opening set, Mia regained composure and began returning Chen's powerful shots.

As Chen began to tire, which resulted in her making a flurry of errors and double faults, Mia controlled the rhythm of play by displaying long balls.

The tactics wore Chen's stamina down further.

At a tie at 1-1, Mia surged ahead to take the remaining five games in a row.

Mia looked in total control in the third set with her pulling clear to a 5-0 lead.

But an instant lapse in concentration allowed Chen to break her serve and close the gap to 5-2.

With fears that the opening set debacle might repeat itself, Mia looked to be overwhelmed by nervousness.

But, with Yayuk calling out instructions from the bench, Mia managed to shrug them off. She got more focused on Chen's long shots and let her concede a fatal mistake with her return flopping onto the net.

"Chen looked fatigue in the second set so I played consistently from the baseline with long balls. She could not resist such a game thus conceding a flurry of mistakes," Mia said after the match

"I just did not want to make the same mistakes as in the first set. I managed to relax and finally won the match."