Women's tennis team serves up win

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila

The national women's tennis team exacted revenge on their Thai rivals for gold on Monday, but their male counterparts fell in a contest marred by a prematch protest about the eligibility of the host team's players.

Wynne Prakusya, a member of the team that lost the final to Thailand in Vietnam two years ago, locked up the gold with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Suchanan Viratprasert in 90 minutes on the hard court at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Her win gave the Indonesian women an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three match contest.

Earlier, Romana Tedjakusuma was forced to go the distance in a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Napaporn Tongsalee. The match lasted almost two hours and a half hours.

There was disappointment for the men. Suwandi lost to Eric Taino 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Prima Simpatiaji was overwhelmed by Cecil Mamiit 6-1, 6-2 in an hour.

Team coach Tintus Arianto Wibowo protested the inclusion of the two U.S.-born players of Philippine descent, saying they were still representing the U.S. in tournaments only five weeks ago.

The match referee dismissed the protest, Tintus said, because both men held passports issued in April 2005. Player eligibility rules state a naturalized citizen may represent their new country six months after a passport is issued.

In the dead third match, Sunu Wahyu Trijati and Bonit Wiryawan combined for a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Johnny Arcilla and Patrick John Tierro.

Indonesia launched a similar protest about the eligibility of American-born Riza Alameda before their women's team semifinal against the hosts on Saturday. The protest was also denied.

Romana, 29, was pleased to finally overcame Tongsalee -- who had beaten her in their three previous meetings -- when it counted.

"I'm glad to be able to win gold. I was confident before I took to the court."

Wynne kept the small Indonesian contingent of spectators -- consisting of national tennis officials and journalists -- in suspense, especially as she had lost in straight sets to the Thai in Vietnam.

She held a match point, which was quickly canceled out by the Thai, who went on to take a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak. But a punishing rally of topspin groundstrokes was won by the Indonesian, and a spent Viraprasert tamely served a double fault.

"Nervous? Yes, I was a bit because it was a deciding match for the team. But I managed to brush the nerves off, helped by my confidence that we would be able to win the deciding doubles."