Three Indonesian players remain alive in Futures

JAKARTA (JP): Three national squad players survived into the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Futures F5 tournament at the Danamon tennis complex in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

Hendri Susilo Pramono upset third seeded Frantisek Babej of Slovakia 6-4, 6-0. Hendri, who will compete in the German tennis league (Bundesliga) next year, will challenge fifth seeded Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan. Qureshi reached the quarterfinals after eliminating Kamil Blaha of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-5.

Febi Widhiyanto made the quarterfinals after Juraj Hasko of Slovakia retired in the second set due to the heat. Febi fought hard to take the first set 7-5 and was leading 3-0 when seventh seeded Hasko quit.

Febi, who will also compete in the Bundesliga, will meet second seeded Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, who was forced to scramble to overcome Suwandi of Indonesia 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.

Nineteen-year-old Febi will be trying to avenge his two defeats to Udomchoke during the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August.

Sebastian Da Costa, a native of East Timor playing for Indonesia, also reached the last 16 by beating Tetsuya Chaen of Japan 7-5, 6-2.

Da Costa will have his work cut out for him on Friday when he meets top seeded Jan Hermansson of Sweden, who defeated Robert Krause of South Africa 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Fourth seeded Akira Matsushita of Japan eliminated Indonesian qualifier Tjahjono 6-3, 6-1 to meet Dutch Steven Byl. Byl upset sixth seeded Kotaro Miyachi of Japan 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

In the doubles, Febi and Hendri defeated compatriots Yusmawan Fahmi and Ariawan Poerboadinoto 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to become the last host pair in the tournament.

They will meet third seeded Qureshi and Minh Le of the United States, who defeated Vaclav Duda and Josef Nesticky of the Czech Republic 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-1.

Top seeded Thomas Shimada of Japan and Myles Wakefield of South Africa won 6-1, 6-1 over Blaha and Roman Kukal to meet Byl and Ruben de Kleijn of the Netherlands, who beat Nesa Artha and Eko Kurniawan of Indonesia 6-3, 6-4. (yan)