Peter to take on Dickson for Astra tennis title

Peter to take on Dickson for Astra tennis title

JAKARTA (JP): Success and failure colored Indonesia's hopefuls in the semifinals of the Indonesia Astra International Junior Championships at the Jakarta Hilton Tennis complex yesterday.

Boys' singles home favorite Peter Handoyo, ITF junior ranked 272, cruised into today's final after defeating Briton Daniel Belcher 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in a rain-delayed match.

But the opposite fate befell Indonesia's Liza Andriani, seeded number two, who crashed to Russian Elena Dementieva in straight sets 3-6, 4-6. There will be an all-Russian final in the girls' singles as Dementieva plays Anastasia Myskina, who beat Marisue Jacutin of the Philippines 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Liza, one of four candidates named for the Indonesian Federation Cup team, made amends for her upset loss by reaching the doubles final. Teaming up with fellow Fed Cup nominee Wynne Prakusya, Liza staved off the persistent challenge of South Korean pair Ha Eun-young and Kim Myung-hee 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4.

The Indonesian top seeds will now meet another South Korean duo, Yoon Hyun-mi and Lim Sun-young, who breezed past South Africans Lara van Rooyen and Michelle Gough 6-3, 6-2.

Peter was taking a slender 2-0 lead in the first set when the rain fell and forced the organizers to delay the matches for more than two hours.

When the rain stopped, Peter poured his groundstrokes to Belcher's baseline to go three-points clear at 5-1, before sealing the set with a drop shot.

The 16-year-old Brit settled his nerves in the second set, as Peter played a sloppy game. A bunch of unforced errors cost the Indonesian the set.

"Well, I messed up the second set. I don't know why, but it always happens when I set the pace," said Peter, who is temporarily absent from an overseas training stint in the United States.

The deciding set showed who the boss was, with a rejuvenated Peter slamming down his characteristic strokes from the back court.

Peter will take on another Briton, Simon Dickson, a 6-0, 3-6, 6-0 winner over Harsh Mankad of India in the other semifinal. "I'll battle it out tomorrow. I don't want to talk about my chances now," Peter said.

In the girls' singles, Liza managed only to match hard-hitting Dementieva in the first six games. The Russian broke once to take the opening set which lasted 38 minutes.

The two baseliners played a service game in the second set until they were tied at 4-4. Again, Liza dropped her form in the decisive game, allowing a service break to earn Dementieva her victory. (05)