Unseeded Ayu through to semifinals

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.