Senior stars dominate selection tournament

Senior stars dominate selection tournament

JAKARTA (JP): The country's seasoned tennis players ended the
national selection tournament as group winners yesterday and will
now lock horns in the playoffs to decide the top four rankings.

Davis Cup team member Andrian Raturandang finished unbeaten in
Group D but dropped a set for the first time when he beat
Tjahyono 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-1 yesterday.

Andrian's fellow Davis Cupper, Sebastian da Costa was also
forced to struggle before stopping Suhendar Dinata 7-6 (7-4), 6-
1. The East Timorese left-hander qualifies for the round-robin
matches of group winners with an emphatic 3-0 record in Group C.

Former Davis Cup player Bonit Wiryawan, who played in Group A,
had little trouble overcoming Samsudin Pare 6-1, 6-3 to finish
unbeaten. In Group B, Sulistyo Wibowo hardly broke sweat in
demolishing Djanuar Radjab 6-0, 6-1 for a place in the top-four
playoffs.

Bonit will play Andrian and Sulistyo meets Sebastian in the
opening clashes today.

Junior player Feby Widhiyanto finally managed to reach the
consolation playoffs pitting group runners-up with a comfortable
6-1, 6-4 win over former Asian Games champion Yustedjo Tarik, at
40, the oldest player in the week-long tournament.

Despite losses, Samsudin, Djanuar and Suhendar joined Feby in
the playoffs to decide the fifth to eighth places. Feby will take
on Djanuar and Samsudin faces Suhendar in today's matches.

Group winners and runners-up will join a centralized training
program set by the Indonesian Tennis Association in preparation
for international events, such as Davis Cup matches.

The country's top players Suwandi, Donny Susetyo, Edy
Kusdaryanto and Benny Wijaya skipped the tournament for various
reasons.

Suwandi and Donny are participating in a tournament in Taiwan,
Edy is still recovering from hepatitis A and Benny refused the
association's invitation to play in the tournament due to his
club commitments.

The tournament will resume six months from now, when members
of the national team will play outsiders. (yan)