Unseeded Ayu through to semifinals

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's young tennis player Ayu Fani Damayanti overcame jitters to defeat her compatriot third seed Liza Andriyani 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the US$10,000 Indonesia Women's Circuit in Jakarta here on Friday.

Unseeded Ayu, whose first appearance in an international tournament saw her crash out in the first round of the recent Wismilak International Tournament in Bali last weekend, will play fellow Indonesian, second seed Sandy Gumulya in the semifinals.

Sandy crushed Septi Mende 6-0, 6-2 in the other all-Indonesian quarterfinal match.

The other semifinal match on Saturday will feature top seed Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand against seventh seed Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei. The two secured their places on Thursday.

Ayu said that she played all-out to win the match against more experienced Liza, a gold medalist at the recent National Games (PON) in Palembang.

However, it did not look promising for her early on, as she was let down by nervousness and impatience in the first set.

She managed to regain her composure in the remaining two sets to wrap up the victory.

"In the first set, I was so impatient. I rushed to hit the ball as hard as I could, but lost out in the end," she said.

"In the second and third sets, I changed my strategy by challenging Liza with long rallies. It worked, and I feel happy with my play today," said the 16-year-old, who thumped fifth seed Diana Julianto 6-2, 6-3 en route to Friday's match.

Regarding her next match, Ayu said she would be looking to maintain her pace against Sandy.

"We evened the score in our previous two matches," she said, adding that she would rate her chance as fifty-fifty.

Ayu won 6-4, 6-4 against Sandy in a tennis tournament held in Yogyakarta, while Sandy won 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in an event held in Surabaya, East Java.

Ayu's hopes for a possible double victory were dashed after she and Septi were beaten by Chan and Thailand's Pichittra Tong 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1 in the doubles semifinal match.

Chan and Pichittra, who dumped top seeds Sandy and Tongsalee in the quarterfinal, will meet either third seeds Wukirasih Sawondari of Indonesia and Minori Takemoto of Japan or second seeds Liza and Thailand's Thassah Vitayaviroj.

The two pairs will play their semifinal match on Saturday while the finals will be on Sunday.