Three national players reach quarterfinals in Circuit meet
JAKARTA (JP): Three national players reached the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Women's Circuit 4 after winning their matches on Thursday at the Danamon tennis complex in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Old hand Irawati Moerid Iskandar survived her match after winning 6-3, 6-3 over teammate Mudarwati. Irawati, a mother of one, will face junior Angelique Widjaja. Angelique unexpectedly upset fourth seeded Diane Asencio of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3.
In another quarterfinals match, Liza Andriyani defeated Olga Kaliojnaja of Russia 6-3, 6-0, and will next challenge second seeded Montika Anuchan of Thailand.
In a shock defeat, Anuchan upset second seeded Jayaramsai Jayalakshmy of India in a tough rubber set to win 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6).
Tennis observer Benny Mailili said Liza must be able to prove her mettle against the Thai girl.
"Liza is much more experienced than Anuchan. Besides, she has an advantage of competing on a court which she has been used to," said Benny, who is also deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti).
Speaking on the Irawati and Angelique match, Benny said Irawati should be able to take advantage of her experience to eliminate her junior, but that 14-year-old Angelique was much younger and was in better physical condition.
Top seeded Benjamas Sangaram will take on Wang I-Ting of Chinese Taipei on Friday. After losing the first set Sangaram made a comeback to defeat Saemi Lim of South Korea 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. While Wang gave a free lesson to eighth seeded Archana Venkataraman 6-0, 6-0.
In another quarterfinals match, Suchanan Viratprasert of Thailand defeated Nina Janzekovic of Slovenia 6-1, 6-0. She will next meet Indian Rushmi Chakravarthi, who won 6-1, 6-2 over Antonia Matic of Croatia.
In the doubles, top seeded Liza and Sangaram defeated Frederika Girsang of Indonesia and Kaliojnaja 7-5, 6-1. They will next play Novianti Warsono and Agustina Wibisono of Indonesia, who defeated Matic and Christine Silaghi of Germany 6-2, 6-0.
Second seeded Jayalakshmy and Chakravarthi will be challenged by Irawati and Angelique. The Indians beat compatriot sisters Archana and Arthi Venkataraman 6-0, 6-1. The Indonesians had an easy win when their opponents Veronika Ctvrtnickova of the Czech Republic and Lucia Tallo of Switzerland retired when the Indonesians led 5-0.
Benny also said that Pelti had applied to stage six future and six circuit tournaments in February, April and September next year.
Pelti's competition committee official Mansyur Djabir said Pelti would provide US$150,000 in prize money for the six tournaments.
Next year Indonesia will host the boys and girls junior championships, as well as the Asia Oceania qualification for the World Youth Cup. (yan)