Three Indonesian tennis players ousted

JAKARTA (JP): Three Indonesian tennis players yesterday were eliminated in the qualifying round of the US$100,000 Wismilak Open Championships in Surabaya, East Java, the third stop of the World Tennis Association (WTA) tour in Asia.

Lisa Andriyani fell 1-6, 3-6 to Ludmila Varmuzona from San Marino. Agustine Limanto lost 2-6, 4-6 to Australia's Kerry Anne Guse. Wurikasih Sawondari, despite all her toughness, succumbed to a 5-7, 6-7 defeat to Czech Pavlina Rajelova.

Sawondari and Rajelova were deeply involved in an exciting hard-fought battle. Each strived to outdo the other point for point, resulting in three tie breaks in the second set.

The other players who took part in yesterday's qualifying round were all foreign players: Japan's Rika Hiraki, Canada's Rene Simpson, Austria's Melanie Schnell and Kristine Godridge from Australia.

Those who succeeded to position themselves among the top four qualify for the main draw which is slated for Nov. 9-13 on the hard court surface of the Embong Sawo stadium in Surabaya.

Indonesian number one Yayuk Basuki, ranked 25th by the WTA, and number two Romana Tedjakusuma (125th) will enter the main draw along with number three and four, Natalia Soetrisno and Mimma Chernovita, who will both get wild-card entries.

Taiwan's number one, Wang Shi-ting and China's number one Fang Li, whose WTA rankings are 49th and 69th respectively, as well as Japan's Nana Miyagi (65th) and Australia's Kristine Radford (55th) have confirmed their entry along with 44 other participants in the championships. (arf)