No Indonesians survive Women's Challenger

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's upset days at the US$50,000 Women's Challenger championships here were ended as Natalia Soetrisno crashed to a 4-6, 3-6 second round defeat to South Korean fifth seeded Park Sung-hee yesterday.

The plucky Natalia struggled all the way, but found she was not in the same league as her powerful world number 149 opponent. Park, who relied much on her long lobs and crosscourt backhand slices, ended Natalia's run in less than an hour of play.

Natalia, number three in national singles rankings, was the last Indonesian left at the annual tourney, following the shocking defeat of second seed Romana Tedjakusuma on Tuesday. Romana failed to capitalize on the slow surface of the clay courts of Senayan, going down 6-3, 2-6, 2-6 to unheralded Andrea Tunko of Austria.

Park is now set up for a quarterfinal encounter with top seed Yone Kamio of Japan who eased past another Austrian Katharina Bueche 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 earlier yesterday. Kamio was troubled against Bueche's tricky passing shots in the opening set. Bueche, however, failed to maintain her form to match the agile Kamio in the second.

The other two quarterfinal berths up for grabs yesterday went to fourth seed Elena Wagner of Germany and Catherine Barclay of Australia. Both will lock horns in tomorrow's match.

Wagner survived a nail-biting match against Tang Min of Hong Kong 7-5, 7-6 (9-7). Barclay also found a tough way to securing her quarterfinal ticket. She dropped the first set before wrapping up 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Natalia still has a reason to smile as her hopes for a title in the doubles are still alive. She teamed up with Peters Shannon of Australia to send Australian fourth seeds Nicole Pratt and Kirrily Sharpe packing their bags early after a heart-stopping, error-ridden battle.

The mixed nationality pair squandered a commanding 5-2 lead and three match points in the deciding set. Shannon then served for a win, and although Pratt and Sharpe fought back to tie at 5- 5, they eventually lost 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6)

The Pratt and Sharpe loss was the biggest upset side of the day. They raced to a 6-0 lead in the final tie break, but slipped up in the end. The Australian pair racked up unforced errors and Natalia and Shannon produced a superb comeback to clip the scoreline.

Natalia and Shannon will take on the Japanese duo of Hiromi Nagano and Yuka Tanaka, who swept Indonesian Liza Andriyani and Eny Sulistyowati 6-4, 6-2 in another first round match yesterday. (amd)