RI players dominate Astra Tennis C'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Four local boys and seven girls cruised to the second round of the 1997 Indonesia Astra International Junior Tennis Championships at the Hilton tennis courts yesterday.

Defending champion Peter Handoyo, whose ITF ranking is 60, beat compatriot Ferry Chandra 6-1, 6-2. Peter, who trained at the Van der Meer Tennis University in South Carolina, USA, arrived here yesterday to defend his title.

The 17-year-old player, who is also top seeded in the tournament, will meet another compatriot Mario Ronaldo today.

Mario beat fellow countryman Novi Hendri 6-2, 6-2.

Two members of the Indonesia Tennis Association's National Team Board, Febi Widhiyanto and Hendri Susilo Pramono, also cruised to the second round.

Tenth seed Febi, whose ITF ranking is 282, overcame Indian Abhijeet Nazumdar 6-2, 6-1.

Febi will challenge Attapol Rittiwattanapong of Thailand, who beat Nicolas Osterbrink of Germany 6-4, 6-4.

Hendri, seeded 14, defeated 18 seeded Markus Polessnig of Austria 6-4, 6-1.

He will face 17 seeded Peter Joubert of South Africa, who won against six seeded Luben Pampulov of Austria.

In the girls' singles, first seeded Wynne Prakusya defeated compatriot Lianasari Batubara 6-0, 6-3.

Wynne, the country's heroine in the Asia Oceania Fed Cup Qualifying Round Group I, will have to overcome Caroline Tidemand of Norway today.

Tidemand beat Indonesian Listya Sungkono 6-1, 6-3.

Nina Aigner of Austria and Abigail Tordoff of England canceled their participation in the tournament.

Another Fed Cup player Eny Sulistyowati also reached the second round after defeating teammate Mudarwati 6-3, 6-1.

Eny will challenge Tong Ka Po of Hong Kong. Tang had to stretch her muscles to overcome Tina Tagwercher of Austria 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Frederika Girsang beat compatriot Evi Mulyana Saputra 6-1, 6- 1 to challenge Marisu Jacutin of the Philippines. Jacutin defeated Thailand's Ponsarin Tovisichai 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Wukirasih Sawondari beat teammate Vinca Rampen 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 to meet Pirada Witoonpanich of Thailand, who defeated Maria Znidar of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3.

Laura Mangunsong beat compatriot Cynthia Dewi 7-5, 6-2 to meet Veronika Koksova of the Czech Republic, who won 6-2, 6-2 against Audra Bernadette of Indonesia.

Nuraeni Batubara of Indonesia also went to the second round after winning over compatriot Mirna Bawono 6-2, 6-2. Nuraeni will meet Bianca Kamper of Austria, who defeated Japanese Yuki Arai 6- 2, 6-2.

The annual tournament, rated among the best in the ASEAN region for junior tennis players, is under the sponsorship of Astra and was inaugurated in 1977. (yan)