Second seed Febri crashes out of Thamrin Cup
Second seed Febri crashes out of Thamrin Cup
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta
Febri Joana was the biggest name casualty on the second day of
the Thamrin Cup international junior tennis tournament here on
Wednesday, with the second seeded Indonesian being dumped out by
a qualifier.
Joana lost to fellow Indonesian Widhy Setyorini 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
in first round of the girls' singles competition at the Senayan
tennis courts.
She broke into tears at the end of the match and refused to
answer questions from journalists, leaving her mother Maria
Josephine to explain the loss.
Maria said it was the worst performance she had ever seen from
her daughter.
"It seemed as if it were not Joana playing out there. She has
beaten Widhy on many occasions," Maria said.
She said Joana made too many double faults, giving Widhy the
confidence to dominate play.
"In the second set, the hot weather drained Joana's stamina,
causing her to lose her concentration.
"I have to admit that Widhy had better endurance than Joana
and her tactics were also improved."
Joana made a total of 19 double faults compared to five for
Widhy.
Still basking in her victory, Widhy said she had decided to
shift to an attacking game in the second set.
"I had nothing to lose during the game. I just played my best.
I am very glad today as I was finally able to beat Joana," she
said.
Apart from Joana, all of the other seeded players went through
to the second round.
Top seed Maya Rosa and third seed Denise Harijanto both
chalked up convincing victories over their Japanese opponents.
Maya beat Mio Tsukada 6-0, 6-3, while Denise brushed aside
Chikako Shimura 6-0, 6-2.
In another match, fifth seed Sophia Mulsap of Thailand beat
Wei-Pung Kung of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 6-2.
Indonesia now has eight players in the girls' singles, but
Maya and Patricia Soesilo will face each other in the second
round, as will Mia Sacca and Lutfiana Budiharto.
The Japanese team is till in contention with three girls
players, Thailand two, while Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and South
Korea are each left with one player remaining.
In the boys' singles, Elbert Sie of Indonesia and Kento
Takeuchi of Japan lived up to their status as tournament
favorites by posting easy victories over their respective
opponents.
Takeuchi beat Indonesian wild card Aditya Harry Sasong 6-3, 6-
2, while Elbert beat Lin Yu-Chun of Chinese Taipei 6-1, 6-1.
However, Takeuchi had to abandon his bid for the doubles title
after he and Ryo Sekiguchi lost to Huang Hsu-Chun and Lee Tung-
Han of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-1.
"It was our strong spirit that helped us win the game," Lee
told the Jakarta Post.
The tournament, which will end on Sunday, features some 130
junior players from 13 countries.