Rising Indonesian star Wynne bidding to outshine Venus
Rising Indonesian star Wynne bidding to outshine Venus
Agence France-Presse, Paris
It will be a David versus Goliath tie Wednesday when rising Indonesian tennis star Wynne Prakusya takes on Wimbledon and US Open champion Venus Williams in the second round of the French Open.
With no WTA singles titles to her name the 5ft 3inch (1.60m) player from Jakarta is clearly the underdog against the powerful 6ft 1in (1.85m) American who has 25 titles, including four Grand Slam wins, to her name.
But the 21-year-old Prakusya, ranked 93rd in the world, is concentrating solely on being a role model for Asian women's tennis and breaking into the top 50 this year rather than on her illustrious opponent.
"We've got a lot of tennis players in Indonesia, but they don't have the sponsors because of the economy and there's not many tournaments," explained Prakusya, who defeated 69th-ranked Anca Barna of Germany in three sets on Monday.
"We used to have lots of sponsors before the economy went down.
"It's a lot of money to play in the beginning. But in my position now, it's pretty okay," said Prakusya, who doubled her prize money in 2001 taking home US$130,391.
Prakusya said that she also wanted to encourage more women to play tennis in her country.
"In Indonesia women have to be more feminine than athletic. And badminton is more popular because it is a cheaper sport than tennis."
She was knocked out of the first round in both Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year and the second round of the US Open.
Williams meanwhile arrives having won four titles this year, but only one of them, Amelia Island, on clay. She is also bidding for her first French Open title after two quarter-final finishes in 1998 and 2000.
Williams may have the upper hand, but after Prakusya's first win of any kind on clay Monday, the Indonesian believes that she can improve her ranking.
"This year my goal is to be ranked top 100. Well, I did! So, my goals, at the end of the year is the top 50," she added.
On the court, three-time champion Monica Seles and last year's runner-up Kim Clijsters both struggled into the second round on Tuesday.
Seles, 28, the winner for three successive years from 1990- 1992 and a finalist in 1998, saw off the determined challenge of Spain's Angeles Montolio 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0 in 97 minutes and will now face either Germany's Barbara Rittner or Petra Mandula in the next round.
Clijsters, 18, the number four seed from Belgium, looked completely unconvincing as she took 2 hours 8 minutes to see off world number 67 Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 to book a second round clash against either Eleni Daniilidou of Greece or Celine Beigbeder of France.
Meanwhile, the rain, which had caused three hours to be lost on Monday, once again played havoc with the schedules on Tuesday.
Five matches had been left unfinished overnight while tournament organizers were forced to move 22 first round women's singles matches from Tuesday to Wednesday as the clouds continued to gather over Roland Garros.