Three Indonesian players reach Circuit quarterfinals
JAKARTA (JP): Three Indonesian players reached the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Women's Circuit 1 at the Danamon Tennis Center in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.
Veteran Irawati Moerid Iskandar defeated Ryoko Takemura of Japan 6-3, 6-2 to face Jeon Mi-ra of South Korea. Jeon beat Austrian Susanne Filipp 6-2, 6-0.
Wukirasih Sawondari, the 1997 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, trounced Nina Egger of Austria 6-1, 6-0. Wukirasih will meet fifth seeded Choi Young-ja of South Korea. She was forced to fight in defeating qualifier Michelle Summerside of Australia 3- 6, 6-3, 6-3.
Wild card Angelique Widjaja caused a major surprise by upsetting fourth seeded Ayami Takase of Japan in the second round match.
Angelique, 14, was whitewashed in the first set but rebounded to win the next two set 6-2, 6-4.
Angelique's coach Meiske Wigoena said the Indonesian changed her strategy in the second set and immediately took command.
"Angie played with high bouncing spins and short crosscourt shots. If she spotted a chance, she would put pressure on the Japanese player with flat drives. This is her best achievement in an international tournament." She said Angelique played without pressure because she was unseeded.
Meiske said the Indonesian's chances were to even against Chung Yang-jin of South Korea on Friday if she maintained her mental strength and played according to her strategy. Chung beat another young Indonesian hopeful Dea Sumantri 6-3, 6-4.
Top seeded Lara Van Rooyen of South Africa beat Chae Kyung-yee of South Korea 6-1, 6-3 to face compatriot Natalie Grandin on Thursday. Grandin beat Nicole Melch of Austria 6-3, 6-3.
In the doubles, only two of the three Indonesian pairs moved to the semifinals.
Host pair of Yayuk Basuki and Irawati beat the Dutch duo of Jolanda Mens and Anouk Sterk 6-3, 6-1. They will meet top seeded Keiko Nagatomi and Takemura of Japan who beat Indonesians Liza Andriyani and Wukirasih 6-4, 6-0.
Angelique, partnered with Dea, sweated out a win over Rushmi Chakravarthi and J. Sai Jayalakshmy of India 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. They will challenge Satoko Kurioka and Remi Tezuka of Japan in Friday's semifinal.
The Japanese pair worked hard to upset seeded third seeded Marylene Losey of Switzerland and Melch 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Second seeds Choi and Kim Eun-sook of South Korea won 6-2, 6-1 over Yuki Fujii and Sachie Umehara of Japan. The Koreans will challenge Chiaki Nakajima and Takase of Japan, who scored a 7-5, 1-0 victory when Austrians Filipp and Marion Walter retired. (ivy/yan)