RI secures one title in Thamrin Cup

RI secures one title in Thamrin Cup

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Indonesia has secured one title at the Thamrin Cup international
junior tennis tournament here, as two Indonesian girls' doubles
will battle it out in the final on Sunday.

The host country also booked two tickets for the finals of the
girls' singles and boys' doubles, but lost the boys' singles
semifinal match.

In the girls' doubles final, top seeds Maya Rosa/Denise
Harijanto -- who beat Chen Lu-Ling/Wang Wen Lin of Chinese Taipei
6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals -- will meet compatriots Lavinia
Tananta/Golda Rubina -- who defeated another Indonesian pair Dian
Mayasari/Patricia Soesilo 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

In the girls' singles final, Indonesian unseeded Mia Sacca,
who is coached by former tennis star Yayuk Basuki, will challenge
another unseeded player, Chen Cu-Ling.

In the semifinals, Mia sent home Malaysian sixth seed Tinusa
Sivaganam in a rubber set 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, while Chen thrashed Kim
Ju-hyoung of Korea 7-5, 6-2.

Mia said she was pleased with her performance.

"In the first set, I was still trying to learn how Sivaganam
plays, so I lost 6-4," Mia said.

"In the second set, I thought I had nothing to lose so I
decided to attack in front of the net, which worked very well as
I won 6-2."

In the final set, however, Mia's tactics failed her. Both
players managed to break each other's serves until the score
leveled at 4-4.

But as Sivaganam began to tire, Mia was able to make another
break to make the score 5-4.

With a serve up her sleeve, Mia looked nervous to finish the
game, giving Siva the chance to force a deuce 40-40.

However, Mia seemingly realized that she should again attack
in front of the net to win points, and with two decisive volleys,
Mia ended the match in style.

"Well, in the third set, I could not attack Sivaganam, but,
thank God, finally I won," she said.

"The final poses a tough challenge as my opponent played
better than I did. However, I will do my best to win," she said.

The boys' doubles final will feature second seed Indonesian
Elbert Sie and Australian Stefan Rosani against unseeded Huang
Chu Hsuan/Lee Tung Han of Chinese Taipei.

In the semifinals, Elbert/Rosani defeated another Chinese
Taipei double of Chang Chien Ting Lung/Hsu Yi Chi 1-6, 6-3,6-4,
while Huang/Lee beat sixth seed Arnav Jain/Tajevsi Rao of India
6-2, 6-0.

However, the favorite of the tournament, Elbert Sie, who is
also number one seed, failed to beat fourth seed Ryo Sekiguchi of
Japan in the semifinals. Elbert lost 7-5, 6-7(5-7), 6-4.

"Both of us played well. I would have won, but I threw away a
chance to break Sekiguchi's serve when I led 4-3 (40-15) in the
third set," Elbert said.

He added that Sekiguchi was able to gain a number of points as
his Japanese opponent played aggressively in front of the net,
instead of from the baseline.

Such a tactic emulated Elbert's previous opponent Sho Aida of
Japan in the quarterfinals, but Elbert was able to play
intelligently to conquer Aida.

Elbert's failure in the semifinals was mirrored by Japanese
second seed Kento Takeuchi, who lost against unseeded Australian
Nick Lindahl 6-2, 6-2.