Wukirasih beats Irawati to take Governor Cup

Wukirasih beats Irawati to take Governor Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young hope Wukirasih Sawondari
collected the Rp 50 million Governor Cup women's satellite
championship title yesterday by defeating veteran Irawati Moerid
Iskandar 6-0, 6-3.

It was the 15-year-old's first win in a US$10,000 satellite
tournament. Wukirasih took home $1,600 while runner-up Irawati
pocketed $1,000.

Wukirasih, who finished first in this year's national team
selection, had no trouble outplaying Irawati in just 52 minutes.
She forced Irawati to follow her tempo in baseline rallies.

Irawati, making a comeback after delivering her child, could
not keep up the game of patience and made many unforced errors.

"This is my first win in a satellite tournament," Wukirasih
said. "With my win, I feel I will have tougher challenges. I'll
try to maintain and improve my playing in the future."

Irawati said the final was an anticlimax after her success in
earlier rounds. She said she played poorly, either hitting the
ball out or making short returns which left her opponent with
easy put-aways.

"It was my bad day, but reaching the final was a very
unbelievable thing in my comeback," she said.

Wukirasih and Irawati will both play in the West Java Governor
Cup this week. Wukirasih will go straight into the main draw
while Irawati has to struggle in the qualifying round.

In the women's doubles, Wang Shi Ting/Hsu Hsueh Li of Chinese
Taipei defeated Japanese duo Yoriko Yamagishi/Tomoe Hotta 6-4, 6-
4.

In the men's singles, Indonesia Open International Junior
champion Febi Widhiyanto had to work hard to defeat veteran
Suhendar Dinata 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.

At 17, Febi became the youngest male player to win the
Governor Cup. He received Rp 3.6 million ($1,364) and Suhendar
won Rp 2,120,000.

Febi did not fare as well in the men's doubles with partner
Edy Kusdaryanto, losing to Sebastian da Costa/Surya Wijaya 4-6,
6-3, 7-5.

Deputy Governor R. Moeseno closed the event. (yan)