Rising tennis star Andrian wins again

Rising tennis star Andrian wins again

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young tennis hopeful Andrian
Raturandang moved a step closer to winning the national selection
tournament when he beat Sebastian da Costa yesterday.

Andrian found little trouble in taming his Davis Cup teammate,
storming to a 6-1, 6-3 demolition to maintain his unbeaten
streak.

"I just played good today, while Sebastian did not play as
usual," Andrian said after the lackluster game lasted under one
hour.

Andrian is the only player to score a 100 percent record in
the 16-field tournament. But he will have something to prove when
he plays Sulistyo Wibowo today in the conclusion of the week-long
tournament held by the national team body of the Indonesian
Tennis Association.

Andrian record is inferior when compared to Sulistyo, with
only a win in the national selection for the 18th Southeast Asian
Games last year.

"Let's just wait and see," Andrian said.

The 20-year-old player played down his perfect run, saying
that he had to stretch his muscles to win the matches.

"I almost lost to Tjahyono and was forced to work hard to
overcome my junior Febi Widhiyanto in the group matches. The
tournament hasn't been easy for me. It drained a lot of energy,"
he said.

Sulistyo's hopes of winning the tournament were dashed
yesterday as he crashed to Bonit 2-6, 4-6, his second defeat
after a three-set loss to Sebastian on Tuesday.

Bonit will meet Sebastian today with the same chance of
winning the tournament. They scored a win and a loss apiece in
the round-robin playoff to decide the first to fourth rankings.

In the playoffs to determine the fifth to eight rankings,
talented third-stringer Febi crashed to his second straight loss,
this time to Suhendar Dinata 4-6, 5-7 yesterday.

Febi, who surprisingly qualified for the playoff, will now
meet Samsudin Pare to avoid bottom place. Samsudin also suffered
his second defeat yesterday, going down 3-6, 3-6 to Djanuar
Rajab.

Djanuar and Suhendar, who each has scored two wins, will lock
horns for fifth place today.

The Indonesian Tennis Association will officially announce the
rankings of eight players and inaugurate them this evening. The
elite players look to carry out their first international duty in
the Davis Cup outing in Taiwan this September. (yan)