RI puts hope in Suwandi in Davis Cup tie
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's top singles player Suwandi is expected to win his first match against South Korean second singles Yoon Yong-il in the second playoff of the Asia Oceania zone Group I tie on Friday.
Earlier, Indonesian no. 2 player Andrian Raturandang will face South Korean top player Lee Hyung-taik. On Saturday, Indonesian veteran duo of Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo will meet Lee and Yoo in the doubles action.
Suwandi will play the decisive match against Lee in the reversed singles if both team tied after two preliminaries match.
Non-playing captain Tintus Arianto Wibowo expressed hope that Suwandi could contribute one point.
"Andrian will find no easy way. He was once beaten by Lee. Moreover, Lee is playing on homesoil. I don't expect Andrian to give up easily, but Lee is really a good player.
"We hope Suwandi can win because Yoon's world rank is lesser than Lee," Tintus said by phone from Seoul.
Lee is in the 80th in the world while Yoon is the world no. 140. Suwandi has reached the world no. 280 while Andrian is somewhere between 800 and 900.
If Indonesia could win over South Korea, it will remain in Group I. But if the result is on the contrary, Indonesia will have to win the third playoff in September to survive Group I.
Tintus said local weather would likely to pose another threat to the national team, which will play on hard court in the Tennis Olympic Park.
"The temperature here can reach the lowest of four degree Celcius, in contrast to the information given by South Korean tennis association to our team who said that the temperature here is about 23 degree celcius. Hopefully, it can increase to 16 degree Celcius on Friday," he said.
In Paris, the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals have flung up a quartet of finely-balanced matches that could all go to the deciding rubber.
Brazil-Australia, Sweden-Russia, Switzerland-France and the Netherlands-Germany all defy predictions of who will make it into the last four in the premier team competition in tennis.
Last year's runner-up Australia whitewashed Brazil 5-0 in last year's semifinals, but that was on the grass courts of Brisbane. The slow clay courts of Florianopolis are an altogether different prospect.
The 24-year-old Brazilian hero and last year's ATP Champions Race winner Gustavo Kuerten is at his best on clay, proof of which is his 12-0 record for this year to date on the surface.
Local boy Kuerten told the Australians to expect a loud, enthusiastic but fair crowd when their quarter-final gets underway.
Australia's No.1 Davis Cup singles player, Lleyton Hewitt, was in agreement. "I'm expecting the stadium to have a carnival atmosphere, rather than a hostile one," Hewitt was quoted by AFP. (ivy)