RI assures a place in men's doubles final

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia booked a ticket in the men's doubles final of the US$10,000 Future-3 tennis tournament here on Wednesday.

Fourth seeded team of Hendri Susilo Pramono and Febi Widhiyanto beat compatriots Eko Kurniawan and Edy Kusdaryanto 7- 5, 6-2 in Wednesday's second round to set up an all-Indonesian semifinal against the pairing of Andrian Raturandang and Suwandi, who fought tooth and nail to upset South African second seeds Rik De Voest and Johan Du Randt 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 in another second round game.

Indonesia could hope for another place in Friday's semifinals if its ace doubles team of Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo perform well in their second round match on Thursday.

In the women's category, six Indonesian singles players cruised safely to the second round.

Seeded fourth Wukirasih Sawondari outclassed lucky loser Michelle Grobby of Australia 6-4, 6-2 and will now face her junior, also a lucky loser, Suci Bungaran, who beat Japan's Ayako Suzuki 6-2, 7-6.

Angelique Widjaja had no difficulties in beating her junior Farida Agustina 6-1, 6-0. In the second round, Angelique will challenge Choi Jin-young of South Korea, who hardly broke a sweat in overcoming Wang I-ting of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-0.

Liza Andriyani reached the second round in another one-sided match, drubbing Debbie Larocque of Canada 6-0, 6-0. Liza will meet ninth seed Akiko Gunji of Japan, who came back from a set down to beat Suchanan Viratprasert of Thailand 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Another Indonesian player Mimma Chernovita produced one of the upsets of the day, knocking out the 16th seeded Akiko Kinebuchi 6-7 (8-7), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2). Mimma is hoping to continue her giant killing run on Thursday when she plays seeded 2nd Sachie Umehara of Japan, who outgunned Indonesia's Frederika Girsang 6-1, 6-3.

Lucky loser Dewi Monika Siregar sprang another surprise when she beat her senior Dian Anggraeni 6-4, 6-5. Siregar will play Orawan Wongkamalasai of Thailand who beat Indonesian Novianti Warsono 6-1, 7-5.

Indonesia's best hopes in the men's event, Yusmawan Fahmi and Suwandi, tumbled in the first hurdles.

Yusmawan gave up to seeded 8th Leigh Holland of Australia 2-6, 0-6 while Suwandi lost to seeded three Per Thornadtsson of Sweden 4-6, 4-6.

Holland will face top seed Danai Udomchoke of Thailand who beat Le Minh of the United States 6-2, 7-5. And Thornadtsson will face Japanese Tasuku Iwami, who defeated South Korean Lee Seung- hun 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4. (ivy)