Sunu fights back to beat Weerapat
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.