Sandy crumbles in 2nd round of tennis tourney
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Local favorite Sandy Gumulya, complaining of a stomach ache, was knocked out of the US$10,000 Indonesia Women's Circuit tennis tournament with a 6-4, 3-6, 0-6 defeat by qualifier Yuan Meng of China at the Jakarta Hilton Tennis Center on Thursday.
Other Indonesian players exiting from the tournament included Diana Julianto and Novianti Warsono.
With her coach Yayuk Basuki watching from the stands, Diana was bounced by Shruti Dawan of India, losing 3-6, 4-6.
Novianti was a 2-6, 3-6 loser to top seed Sania Mirza of India.
Mirza, who won the 2003 Junior Wimbledon doubles title, said that she was determined to win the competition. "When I participate in a tournament, I play to win it. But let's see what happens next," she told The Jakarta Post.
Other Indonesia-India matches also occurred on other courts, the hosts coming out winners this time with Septi Mende stopping sixth seed Sonal Phadke 6-4, 6-2 and Wukirasih Sawondari upsetting third seed Isha Lakhani 6-2, 6-3.
Despite a two-set win, Septi had to struggle in the first set, during which she was three games behind before mounting a furious charge to seal the set.
"I felt nervous with many spectators watching me out there. My hands were shaking," she told The Jakarta Post.
She said, however, she eventually won because Phadke's play was not consistent.
Later in the day, Sandy, who along with Septi was a member of the Indonesian Fed Cup team that lost to Germany in July, started the match triumphantly by winning the first set. But, she crumbled in the following two sets, apparently troubled by her upset stomach.
She seemed to suffer a cramp, which resulted in her losing concentration. In the middle of the second set, she had to leave the court for treatment.
The doctor was called in during the third set after Sandy asked permission to have a snack. Although she managed to continue the match, Sandy was eventually blanked at the end.
"It was not a good time for me. I felt like fainting," she told the Post after the match.
Second seed Rushmi Chakravarthi was the third Indian to cruise into the quarterfinals after dispatching Montinee Tangphong of Thailand 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
Thailand has two contenders in the quarterfinals: Wilawan Choptang and Thassa Vitayaviroj.
Sandy appeared to recover quickly from her stomach problems, as she teamed up in the doubles with Wukirasih to destroy Naoko Horikawa/Liza Pereira 6-0, 6-0.
Top seeds Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sania Mirza conquered Montinee Thangthong/Thassha Vitayaviroj 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and moved into the second round along with second seeds Wilawan Choptang (Thailand)/Shruti Dhawan (India) and fourth seeds Indonesia's Liza Andriyani/Diana Julianto.