RI cruises to Fed Cup qualifying semifinals

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Federation Cup tennis team cruised to the Asia Oceania Qualifying Group I semifinals by eliminating India 3-0 yesterday in round-robin matches in Wellington, New Zealand.

Third-seeded Indonesia is scheduled to meet first-seeded Chinese Taipei, which beat New Zealand 2-1, today to decide the winner of Group A.

In Group B, China, which was wrongly reported Tuesday as being beaten 0-3 by little-known Kazakhstan, will face Thailand after beating Hong Kong 2-1. Thailand defeated Kazakhstan 2-1.

In Indonesia's first singles match, Wynne Prakusya played aggressively to beat Jahnavi Parekh of India 6-1, 6-3 in an hour.

With about 100 Indonesian spectators throwing their weight behind her, the 17-year-old Wynne forced her contender to make many unforced errors with her passing shots and sharp crosscourt play.

Wynne said she did not feel pressured like she had on Tuesday in the opening singles match, when she pulled out all the stops to beat her opponent.

Yayuk Basuki, ranked 24th in the world, had an easy match against Arati Ponnappa, winning 6-1 6-1 in 45 minutes.

Indonesia's pair Mimma Chernovita and Eny Sulistyowati who lost their opening match Tuesday, performed better yesterday winning 6-1 6-2 against Uzman Khan and Jahnavi Parekh.

Mimma and Eny, who dominated the match from the baseline and net, finished the match in an hour.

The semifinals will start tomorrow. The winners of each group will fight for a World Group berth. (yan)

Results

Group A: Indonesia bt India 3-0 Wynne Prakusya bt Jahnavi Parekh 6-1, 6-3 Yayuk Basuki bt Arati Ponnappa 6-1, 6-0 Mimma Chernovita/Eny Sulistyowati bt Uzman Khan/Jahnavi Parekh 6- 1, 6-2

Chinese Taipei bt New Zealand 2-1 Tzu-Ting Wen bt Rewa Hudson 7-6 (6-4), 1-6, 6-3 Shi-Ting Wang bt Gaye McManus 6-0, 6-1 Hsueh-Li Hsu/Shi-Ting Wang lost to Leanne Baker/Shelleh Stephens 5-7, 6-3, 5-7

Group B: China bt Hong Kong 2-1 Yan Chen lost to Ka Po Tong 1-6, 3-6 Jing Qian Yi bt Min Tang 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 Yan Chen/Jing Qiang Yi bt Min Tang/Ka Po Tong 7-6, 6-4

Thailand bt Kazakhstan 2-1 Busrin Boontemleaw lost to Tatiana Babina 5-7, 0-6 Suvimol Duangchan bt Alisa Velts 6-1, 6-1 Suvimol Duangchan/Phorhathai Suksarnran bt Tatiana Babina/Alisa Velts 7-6 (6-3), 6-4