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.