RI beats Uzbekistan in Junior Fed Cup

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia took a narrow 2-1 lead over Uzbekistan on the opening day of the Asia-Pacific zone matches of the Junior Federation Cup at the Bung Karno tennis stadium in central Jakarta on Tuesday.

Maya Rosa Stefanie gave the home team a winning start after she defeated Elina Arutunova 6-2, 6-4.

The Uzbeks evened the score, courtesy of Ivanna Isroilova, who registered a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Sandy Gumulya.

Sandy should have returned to the court for the doubles match with Septi Nindya Yutami, but she appeared to be so exhausted after her singles match that the team decided to replace her with Maya.

The two teams are drawn in Group Three with India and the Philippines.

Team coach Alfred Raturandang said that Sandy was unable to play the second time as her left foot was immobilized because of cramps.

The makeshift pair looked shaky early on, losing the first set 3-6. But they managed to improve to win the following two sets, 6-2, 6-2.

"I expected a 2-1 win. And one of the points could have come from Sandy and Septi. It is a relief, though, that Maya was able to do her job," Alfred said, adding that her attack from the baseline played a large part in contributing the points.

The competition features 14 countries and will run until May 19.

Also ending the opening matches with wins were New Zealand (Group Four), India and Thailand (Group Two), the three easing past Chinese Taipei, the Philippines and Sri Lanka respectively, each with a 3-0 score line.

In the other ties, South Korea was leading Japan 2-0 in Group Two, while Malaysia and Hong Kong were tied 1-1 in Group One after the first two ties.

The other two teams, top seed Australia and second seed China will start their matches on Wednesday when Indonesia will take on India.

Alfred was doubtful whether they would field Sandy in India's match. "Let's see if her condition improves, she should be back," he said, while signaling that Sania Mirza on the opposing side was a potentially dangerous player.

The top two teams from the four groups will qualify for the next stage. The winning four will get berths to the International Fed Cup in France in October.