Top seed Myskina tumbles, Angie rolls on in Bali

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Nusa Dua, Bali

Top seed Anastasia Myskina was dealt a cruel blow while Angelique "Angie" Widjaja rolled on to the quarterfinals of the Wismilak International Tennis Tournament here on Thursday.

French Open champion Myskina of Russia became the latest seeded player to exit the tournament after she lost to Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 3-6, 6-1, 2-6 in the second round of the US$225,000 tournament.

She followed third seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan, fifth seed Chanda Rubin of the United States, sixth seed Maria Vento-Kabchi and eight seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia & Montenegro.

Myskina's exit also means that a pre-tournament prediction for a possible all-Russian final as in the case of the French Open and U.S. Open will not happen.

However, a semifinal between Russians is still possible with U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova cruising to the quarterfinals.

Petrova edged Marta Marrero of Spain 7-5, 6-1 while Kuznetsova, whose U.S. Open title came at the expense of fellow Russian Elena Dementieva, won over Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-4.

Both are on course for a semifinal clash, though they will have to clear the next hurdles with Petrova facing Tathiana Garbin of Italy and Kuznetsova being paired against Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia.

Garbin did not have to complete her match against Marion Bartolli of France as the latter quit while trailing 6-0, 2-0 due to foot injury.

Angie gave scores of local fans moment to cheer with her 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Anca Barna of Germany.

However, the most shocking defeat was suffered by Myskina, who had come to the tournament as the favorite, but on Thursday was not able to show her winning formula that earned her the French Open title in May.

She fell to a string of unforced errors against the 22-year- old Camerin whom she beat at the Indian Wells tournament earlier this year.

Kuznetsova committed seven double faults in the first game and her shots continually went wide to sum up her poor play.

"I can't find my game. I tried to do my best but somehow it didn't work," Myskina told reporters during a post-match press conference.

"I played bad today but I am not going to make any excuse for my defeat. Life is up and down and apparently this is my down. This is my bad day and this is my worst defeat this year,"

Camerin said that she was extremely thrilled with her victory, her first in as many tournaments she had played the Russian before.

Despite Myskina's confession of a poor game, the victory for Camerin did not come so easy.

After taking the opening set, Camerin found herself under pressure to end up 1-6 loser in the second set.

"Myskina played really well in the second match, she didn't make any mistakes. I took a shower during the ten-minute break before the third. I told myself to play good like I did in the first set and I managed to do it," Camerin said giggling.

Camerin will be challenged by Argentinean Gisela Dulko, the 4- 6, 6-1, 7-5 winner over Flavia Penetta of Italy on Wednesday, in the quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinal match will pit Germany's Marlene Weingartner against unseeded Cho Yoon-jeong of South Korea, who earned her place on Wednesday.

Weingartner stopped debutante Akiko Nakamura's run with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

In the doubles matches, Venezuela's Milagros Sequera and Argentina's Gisela Dulko chalked up an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory over Australian pair Casey Dellacqua and Nicole Sewell.

They will face Myskina and Ai Sugiyama (Japan) in the semifinals. The Russia-Japan pair won 6-1, 6-2 over the Spanish pair of Marta Marrero and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

In the other semifinal match, Garbin and Australia's Nicole Pratt, who beat Amanda Augustus and Jennifer Hopkins of the United States 6-2, 6-3, will take on either Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)/Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) or Angelique Widjaja/Vento-Kabchi.