Wynne cruises to semis of Astra tennis c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Top seeded Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia cruised to the semifinals while defending champion Peter Handoyo, also of Indonesia, crashed at yesterday's quarterfinals of the 11th Indonesia Astra International Junior Tennis Championships at the Hilton Hotel tennis courts.

The 16-year-old Wynne, who teamed up for the Fed Cup tie in New Zealand two weeks ago, beat Kim Jin-hee of Korea 6-3, 6-3 in the girls' singles.

Wynne will face compatriot and another Fed Cupper Eny Sulistyowati today for tomorrow's final berth.

Fourth-seeded Eny defeated teammate Frederika Girsang, who received a wild card, 6-4, 6-3.

Another semifinal clash will feature South Korea's Chang Kyung Mi, who beat third-seeded Wukirasih Sawondari 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

Chang will challenge Veronika Koksova of the Czech Republic, who earlier yesterday beat Austrian Bianca Kamper 6-4, 6-2.

Boys' singles first-seeded Peter, who is being trained at the Van der Meer camp in South Carolina, unexpectedly lost to Croatian Davor Grgic 6-2, 3-6, 1-6.

"I think Peter is not in top form because his physical condition was very bad," said tennis observer Benny Mailili.

"His condition is getting weaker, specially in the third set," he added.

Grgic will meet Pieter Joubert of South Africa, who defeated Maciej Ditaj of Poland 7-6 (7-0), 7-5.

Compatriot Febi Widhiyanto had to stretch his muscles to go through to the semifinals after eliminating third-seeded Josef Nesticky 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

"Febi could win because his physical condition is better than his contender," Benny commented.

Unseeded Febi, who is also a member of the national team, will challenge second-seeded Jacco van der Westhuizen.

Van der Westhuizen had to work hard to beat Tomasz Wawrzyniak of Poland 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Indonesia's Fed Cup pair of Wynne and Eny also cruised to an All-Indonesian girls' doubles final. They eliminated third-seeded Sybille Bammer/Bianca Kamper of Austria 6-4, 6-0.

Top seeded Wynne/Eny will be challenged by second-seeded Lianasari Batubara/Wukirasih, who defeated Caroline Tidemand (Norway)/Arai Yuki (Japan) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Febi/Hendri Susilo Pramono went through to the semifinals after they had to work hard to overcome Yoshino Satoshi (Japan)/Kim Min-sang (Korea) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Febi/Hendri, second-seeded in the annual tournament, will challenge Thai's Danai Udomchoke/Attapol Rothiwattanapong. The Thai doubles beat Karamveer Premnarayan (India)/Hung Soon-park (Korea) 6-0, 6-3.

"Febi and Hendri are trying to make a hat trick after they won the Malaysia Satellite and the Brunei Satellite," said coach Deddy Prasetyo.

In other semifinals, South African Van der Westhuizen/Joubert will meet Nesticky (the Czech Republic)/Jurgen Melzer (Austria).

The South African defeated Indonesia's Ferdi Fauzi/Mario Ronaldo 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 while Nesticky/Melzer won over Luben Pampulov/Markus Polessnig of Austria 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4. (yan)