Suwandi cruises past Andrian to become top tennis player

JAKARTA (JP): Former national number one Suwandi beat Andrian Raturandang Sunday to reclaim the title of the country's best tennis player at the BNI 1996 Indonesia Masters at the Jakarta Hilton International Hotel.

Suwandi, who lost to veteran Tjahjono in the round-robin matches, beat Andrian, who had never lost during the tournament, 6-2, 6-3.

"Honestly I didn't think that I could have won so easily against Andrian because of my bad performances in the round-robin matches. He seemed not to show his best form, unlike when he beat me in the national selection event early this month," Suwandi said after the match.

Suwandi, who bagged the Rp 5 million (US$2,119) first prize, said that one of the factors that helped him win was the hard court. He is used to playing at the Hilton as his club, Nugra Santana, always practices there.

Separately, Alfred Raturandang, Andrian's coach and father, said that Suwandi was very motivated to win the final.

"Andrian must learn from his loss today. Being the winner of the national selection tournament must make him realize that the competition is getting tougher," Alfred said.

Meanwhile Marieke Gunawan beat Agustine Limanto 6-2, 7-5 to claim the best women's tennis player title.

Two old hands, Suzanna Wibowo and Irawati Moerid won the women's doubles final against junior Eny Sulistyowati and Wynne Prakusya on Women's Day. Both mothers beat Eny and Wynne 7-6, (7- 3), 1-6, 6-2.

Suzanna and Irawati pocketed Rp 2.7 million.

"Our motivation was only to test our juniors. We are better at strategy but Eny and Wynne have better groundstrokes. Our coaches helped us to realize that," Suzanna said.

Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo earned Rp 3.4 million first prize after defeating Donny Susetyo and Surya Wijaya 7-6, (7-3), 6-1 in the men's doubles. (yan)