Sunu set for tough game against top seed Weerapat at Salonpas tourney

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sunu Wahyu Trijati faces a real test in his title defense when he takes on top seed Weerapat Doakmaiklee in the quarterfinals of the Salonpas International Junior Tennis Championship here on Thursday.

Sunu of Indonesia, who is the fifth seed in the tournament, and Weerapat of Thailand booked their quarterfinal tickets after winning their matches at the Kemayoran Tennis Center on Wednesday.

Sunu overwhelmed Robert Foy of New Zealand 6-2, 6-4, while Doakmaiklee overcame Indonesia's Ayrton Wibowo 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"I'll do my best, and I hope that we will end up with a favorable result from tomorrow's quarterfinals," Sunu told The Jakarta Post.

After finishing off his earlier opponent in two sets, Weerapat was forced to play three sets against Ayrton, a result that could signal a dip in the Thai's performance.

Sunu will hold the upperhand when he takes to the court with the young Indonesian star, having won in their two previous matches.

He said he had learnt a lot from his early exit from last month's Cigna Open. But he was coy at assessing his chances against Weerapat, saying that a number of hot contenders had been playing very well in the tournament.

The quarterfinals will pit second seed Luka Ocvirk of Slovenia, who outplayed qualifier Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia 6-1, 6-2, against Chris Mayanto of Indonesia, a 7-5, 6- 3 winner over fellow Indonesian Jonathan Amdanu.

Other Indonesians who managed to get into the next round are Elbert Sie and Sandy Purnomo, who will challenge Richard Ruckelshause of Austria and Takanobu Fujii respectively.

In the girl's singles, all seeded players lived up to their seedings by getting through to the quarterfinals.

Top seed Hsu Wen Hsin of Chinese Taipei was too strong for Rininta Hidayat of Indonesia with the former notching up a crushing 6-0, 6-1 win, while second seed Pichitra Thongdach of Thailand dispatched Mia Sacca, also from Indonesia, 6-3, 6-4.

Hsu now meets host player and seventh seed Maya Rosa, who earlier defeated Australian Julianne Welford 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, while Thongdach is being challenged by sixth seed Stefabie Rath of Austria.

Maya's compatriot and eighth seed Septi Mende is to face third seed Tatjana Malek of Germany, while the fourth seed, the Netherland's Nicole Thijssen, will come up against fifth seed Ghizela Schutte of South Africa.