RI players denied semis berths on own courts

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There will be no local players to cheer at the singles semifinals of the Indonesia Women's Circuit tennis tournament after Wukirasih Sawondari and Septi Mende became the home side's last players to fall here on Friday.

Wukirasih, who came to the US$10,000 tournament after her mediocre performance in the preceding Asian Tennis Championship in Tashkent, went down 6-4, 6-2 to Thassa Vitayaviroj of Thailand in the quarterfinal match at the Jakarta Hilton tennis courts.

Septi raised hopes when she won the opening set, but then failed to hang in against Indian Shruti Dhawan, to crash out in a 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-3 match.

Dhawan's march to the semifinals was followed by her two compatriots: top seed Sania Mirza and second seed Rushmi Chakravarthi.

Mirza was unstoppable when she beat Wilawan Choptang of Thailand 6-4, 6-1, while Chakravarthi had to put in an extra effort before stopping the generally persistent play of qualifier Yuan Meng of China, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

In Saturday's semifinals, Mirza will face Dhawan and Chakravarthi meets Vitayaviroj.

Wukirasih made amends for her loss in the singles with a semifinal ticket in the doubles contest.

Teaming up with Sandy Gumulya, whose singles bid crashed early, Wukirasih excelled to help the pair wipe out Japanese Aya Oasa/Vatanya Vijiksanaboon 6-0, 6-1.

So did Septi, who gained some consolation through her partnership with Maya Rosa. The pair beat fellow Indonesians Liza Andriyani/Diana Julianto 3-6, 7-6(7/2), 6-2.

Sandy/Wukirasih will face second seeds Choptang/Dhawan, the 7- 5, 6-2 winners over Orawan Lamangthong (Thailand)/Samrita Sekar (India) 7-5, 6-2.

Septi/Maya will take on top seeds Chakravarthi/Mirza, who defeated fellow Indians Isha Lakhani/Sonal Phadke 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Play on Saturday is scheduled for 10 p.m. Jakarta time.