RI to face China, Japan to see Thailand

RI to face China, Japan to see Thailand

Agence France-Presse, Tokyo

Angelique "Angie" Widjaja and Wynne Adiati Prakusya avenged their loss in the singles to win a doubles against Thailand and give Indonesia top place in Pool B at the Fed Cup tennis Asia-Oceania zone Group One on Friday.

Angie and Wynne, who lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn and Suchanan Viratprasert Wednesday, defeated Napaporn Tongsalee and Prariyawan Ratanakrong 6-2, 7-5 in the doubles, which was canceled on Wednesday due to rain.

Indonesia secured a berth in Saturday's playoffs with a 4-1 record when they outclassed Malaysia also on Friday with Wynne Prakusya beating Liaw Chen Yee 6-1, 6-2 and Angelique Widjaja beating Khoo Chin Bee 6-3, 6-0. Sandy Gumulya and Suzanna Anggarkusuma took the dead doubles rubber 6-1, 6-1 over Liaw and Norzafirah Taufek.

Second seed Indonesia, fourth seed Thailand and Taiwan finished with identical four wins against one defeat in the six- team Pool B round robin, and the first two teams had to decide the winner of their group.

Taiwan was third in the group due to match ratio behind the two teams.

On Saturday, Indonesia will take on third seed China, while Thailand will play top seed Japan, vying for seats in playoffs for the World Group to be played in July.

"That's the God's plan that we lost Wednesday and then Chinese Taipei beat Thailand today and we won the doubles," said Wynne.

"We finally won the tie between the three of the teams. It's good to play China tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll do OK," she added.

Japan whipped winless Hong Kong without its ace Ai Sugiyama as Saori Obata whitewashed Cindy Lee Si-nga 6-0, 6-0 and Shinobu Asagoe powered past Lam Po-kuen 6-1, 6-1.

Zheng Jie clinched victory for China against South Korea to decide the runner-up spot by wrapping up a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Choi Jin-Young. Sun Tiantian breezed past Kim Mi-Ok 6-3, 6-3 in the opening match.

Thailand had expected to finish top after beating Indonesia Wednesday, but it went one down against Taiwan when Suchanan bowed to Chuang Chia-jung 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 in the opener.

Tamarine made it even by scoring a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash over Hsieh Su-wei, but she and Napaporn Tongsalee crashed to a 2-6, 6- 7 (3/7) defeat to Chuang and Hsieh in the decider.