Sunu fights back to beat Weerapat

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Defending champion Sunu Wahyu Trijati of Indonesia moved a step closer to defending his title at the Salonpas International Junior Tennis Championship, beating top seed Weerapat Doakmaiklee in a quarterfinal match at the Kemayoran Tennis Center here on Thursday.

Sunu recovered after dropping the first set to put on a convincing performance in defeating the young Thai star 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

In Friday's semifinal, Sunu will meet compatriot Elbert Sie, who was also extended to three sets in his 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over Richard Ruckelhause of Austria.

Two other Indonesian quarterfinalists, Christ Mayanto and Sandy Purnomo, failed to take advantage of the home support in crashing out of the tournament.

In the lower half of the draw, second seed Luka Ocvirk of Slovenia outplayed Christ Mayanto 6-1, 6-2 to book a spot in the semifinals against seventh seed Takanobu Fujii of Japan, who earlier upset Indonesian Sandy Purnomo 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1.

Young Indonesian star Sunu defeated Weerapat in one hour 55 minutes to improve his head-to-record with the Thai to a perfect three wins in three meetings.

The first set was very tight as both players held serve until Weerapat broke Sunu's serve in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead in the set. He then served out to win the first set 7-5.

The rest of the match was dominated by Sunu, who dominated the second set in winning it 6-1.

However, Weerapat seemed to have found his game in the third and decisive set, jumping out to an early 0-2 lead.

But Weerapat was unable to build on this momentum, and Sunu promptly won the next six games to win the set 6-2 and the match.

The girl's singles quarterfinals were a grim affair for the host players, with both Maya Rosa and Septi Mende falling to their opponents.

Seventh seed Rosa put up a valiant fight but still was unable to overcome top seed Hsu Wen Hsin of Chinese Taipei, losing 7-6 (7/6), 6-2. Eighth seed Mende was ousted from the tournament by third seed Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-3, 6-3.

On Friday, Hsu will meet fourth seed Nicole Thijssen of the Netherlands, while Malek will take on second seed Tongdach Pichitra of Thailand.