Three Indonesian players reach Circuit quarterfinals

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)