Mirza lands Indonesian Women's Circuit title
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Top seed Sania Mirza of India lived up to her reputation by winning the US$10,000 Indonesia Women's Circuit tennis tournament while the hosts somewhat redeemed their dismal run in the singles by winning the doubles title here on Sunday.
Mirza, who will turn 17 this December, launched a series of powerful forehands throughout the match to beat compatriot and second seed Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-3, 7-5 in 62 minutes in the final match at the Hilton tennis courts.
Sunday's match was the fifth meeting for the two with Chakravarthi still leading 3-2. Mirza, who won the 2003 Junior Wimbledon doubles, is currently ranked 402 compared to Chakravarthi's 473.
Mirza said she was aiming at rising above the 300 barrier in the rankings next year. "My target is that next year I will get a place in the 300," she told reporters after the match.
As the winner, Mirza earned the top prize of US$1,600, while runner up Chakravarthi took home US$1,000.
Meanwhile, Indonesians Septi Mende/Maya Rosa defeated second seeds Wilawan Choptang (Thailand)/Shruti Dhawan (India) 7-6 (7/6) 6-4 in an exhausting final match.
Septi/Maya went three games down early but steadily crawled their way back to even the score. The two sides continued their tight fight into a tiebreak which the Indonesians won 7/6.
After losing the first set, the Thailand-India pair started putting up even fiercer resistance, making the second set ever tighter with only a one-game gap between them.
Holding match point, the Indonesians failed to finish the job immediately. Instead, they were forced to deuces three times before finally being assured of victory.
Septi/Maya were got US$650 while Choptang/Dhawan walked away with US$350.
"I was tense from the moment I stepped out onto the court, and became more tense after we were left 0-3 behind," Septi told reporters after the match.
"But we were determined that we should try to move ahead point by point. It turned out we were able to do so," she said as her partner Maya nodded in agreement.
Looking ahead to the next challenge, Septi said that she was quite happy with her partner and they were very likely to continue their partnership for the Indonesian tennis team's campaign in the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December.
The team's head coach Suzanna Anggarkusumah, who was present for Sunday's matches, said that she was satisfied with Septi/Maya's performance, although the pair still had many aspects of their game that needed to be improved.
She said: "This pairing has a chance to win a gold medal in the SEA Games."
Over the next three months, Suzanna said that she would monitor the girls intensively and send them to at least three other tournaments before their Vietnam trip.
The Indonesia Women's Circuit will start its second leg on Tuesday.