Mia sparks Indonesia's triumph at Thamrin Cup

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."