Romana, Liza clinch SE Asian Games berths

JAKARTA (JP): Romana Tedjakusuma and Liza Andriyani secured on Thursday their tickets to the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, after wins on the second day of the national selection session at the Kemayoran Tennis Center.

Romana, a former Fed Cup team member, who recently returned from studying in Louisiana in the U.S., overcame Mudarwati 6-2, 6-0 and Dea Sumantri 6-1, 6-1.

Liza -- a previous squad member of the Fed Cup, SEA Games and Asian Games teams -- had to work hard to defeat the 1997 SEA Games gold medalist Wukirasih Sawondari 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 and Irawati Moerid Iskandar 6-2, 6-3.

Both players won four of their seven matches during the selection. They join Wynne Prakusya, who has a world ranking of 190, and was automatically named in the team.

With one more victory needed, Irawati is still in with a chance to join her colleagues, after defeating Mudarwati 6-1, 6- 3. Wukirasih, who has won three of her four matches, is also another contender for the team.

Eight players -- Irawati, Wukirasih, Liza, Dea, Frederika Girsang, Angelique Widjaja, Mudarwati and Romana -- are competing in the four-day round-robin selection

In the Indonesian Men's Fertilizer Future 3 tournament at the same venue, Indonesia's top singles player Suwandi bowed out after losing to compatriot Yusmawan Fahmi 6-3, 6-2. Yusmawan, who was scheduled on Thursday to fly to Mallorca, Spain, for the Universiade, will face Suhendar Dinata, who beat Rick De Voest of South Africa 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Another Indonesian into the third round, Sebastian Da Costa, defeated qualifier Matthew Hanlin of England 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Top seeded players Hideki Kaneko of Japan and Vadim Kutsenko of Uzbekistan also reached the third round. Kaneko beat Marcel Du Coudray of Mauritius 2-6, 6-1, 6-1, while Kutsenko eliminated Glen Bertram of Australia 6-0, 6-2.

In the doubles, Febi Widhiyanto and Hendri Susilo Pramono reached the second round after overcoming Edo Bawono of Indonesia and Anand Radhakrishna of India 6-3, 6-1. Veterans Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo, the 1997 SEA Games gold medalists, defeated Britons Matthew Hanlin and Neil Watts.(yan)