Suwandi savior in Indonesia's 3-2 win over South Korea

By Dwiatmanta

JAKARTA (JP): The teenage Suwandi was the hero and toast of Indonesia yesterday when he scored the decisive point to give the hosts a hard-earned but well-deserved 3-2 victory over South Korea in their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group One clash.

In front of 1,000 home fans, including Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, who is also the honorary chairman of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti), Suwandi overcame his nervous start to shatter South Korea's dreams of carving out a historical away win by beating Shin Han-cheol 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6- 3, 7-6 (7-4) in a three hour and 42 minute thriller.

It was payback for teammate Benny Wijaya's upset 6-4, 3-6, 2- 6, 4-6 defeat to hard-hitting Chang Eui-jong in yesterday's first singles match, a sub-par performance from number one Benny.

Smarting from a first set defeat, Suwandi drilled flawless backhand strokes to Shin's shaky left defensive ground in a string of long rallies throughout the next three. Shin, on the other hand, fought gamely to save four match points before forcing a break and a tie-breaker.

A dispute over a call for Shin's serve involving South Korean non-playing captain Kim Choon-ho, his Indonesian counterpart Wailan Walalangi, umpire Rory Prasodjo and honorary referee Jim Moore stopped the tie break for 10 minutes with Suwandi leading 2-1.

As Moore let a first serve to Shin, an unidentified man hurled a plastic bottle of water at the Australian honorary referee. The incident forced Rory to warn the 1,000 crowd at the Senayan tennis stadium that more misconduct would cost Indonesia a penalty point.

Suwandi continued to fire his backhand deep and quickly raced to a 5-3 lead. He gave Shin a consolation point only after he broke a racket string for the third time in the match. The 18- year-old Indonesian saved his own serve for a win as his struggling opponent lobbed out a forehand after a tiring rally.

"I tried not to get nervous despite the heavy burden on my shoulders," said the baby faced Suwandi after the marathon match. He admitted that the South Korea number one fired brilliant returns of service to ward off four match points.

"I was convinced that I would beat Shin when I took the third set," said Suwandi, who snatched the gold medal in his debut at the Southeast Asian Games last year.

The 18-year-old player, rated 500th in the world, also became the savior in Indonesia's Davis Cup first round qualifying match against the Philippines, beating hard-working Felix Barrientos to secure a 3-2 win for the national squad last year. Suwandi lost to Shin in the next round which saw Indonesia routed 0-5 by the South Koreans.

Indonesia now carries a 4-3 record against South Korea in their long-time Davis Cup rivalry. South Korea led Indonesia 2-0 in their last three Jakarta's Davis Cup encounters in 1975 and 1982 and 1988, only to suffer 3-2 defeats.

Indonesia will now be promoted to the World Group qualifying round in September, with Austria, India, Denmark, Australia, Hungary, Italy, Belgium and Israel, the losers of last season's qualifying round for the world's 16 best tennis playing countries, awaiting.

Benny

Benny's defeat to Chang brought Indonesia to the brink of a nightmare as a solid partnership of Chang and Kim Chi-wan had posted a morale-boosting 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 win over Benny and Bonit Wiryawan on Saturday.

Both Benny and Bonit, who Wailan said were prepared to live up to Indonesia's prediction of a 3-0 lead on Saturday, could not match a towering Chang who continuously ventured forth to the net for a number of stop balls.

A high tempered Benny easily tamed serve-and-volleyer Chang in the opening set before taking a 3-1 lead in the second. He, however, lost his composure following a foot fault and conceded two breaks straight.

The Indonesian world number 279 regained his form in the fourth set, firing big serves and volleys to soar to another 3-1 lead. Benny, who later said he suffered a muscle injury to his left thigh, looked bemused by Chang's drop shots and incision like cross court volleys.