Wynne cruises to semis of Astra tennis c'ships

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)