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)