Wynne vies for Jakarta Open double

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wynne Prakusya outclassed Montinee Tangphong 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals of the US$25,000 Jakarta ITF Women's Open at the Hotel Hilton tennis courts here on Saturday.

The win, which came after Wynne's 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 defeat to her Thai rival in Phuket, Thailand, earlier this year, gave Indonesia's fifth seed a finals date against seventh seed Chuang Chia-jung of Chinese Taipei on Sunday.

Chuang brushed aside fourth seed Kristina Czafikova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-0 in the other semifinal match.

Wynne has a chance of making it a double as she also features in the doubles final along with Japanese partner Ryoko Fuda.

The second seeds, who notched up a 6-3, 0-6, 6-1 victory over third seeds Remy Tezuka of Japan and Kristina Czafikova of Slovakia in the semifinals, will face top seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung of Chinese Taipei, who defeated the Thai pairing of Wilawan Choptang and Montinee Tangphong 7-5, 6-2.

While the doubles match forced a comeback performance, Wynne had an easy task against Tangphong.

The 24-year-old Wynne started off perfectly with a break.

Combining top spins, slices and net shots, she forced Tangphong to make a string of unforced errors, handing the Indonesian a crushing first set win.

Blanked in the first set, Tangphong switched to forcing long rallies before she thought she had the right moment to finish them off with dangerous top spins.

The 20-year-old Thai looked to be beginning to find her pace, making the contest tougher than ever. At 4-4 Wynne took the upper hand once again to break Tangphong in the ninth game before finishing her off.

Disappointed, Tangphong rushed back to her hotel immediately after shaking Wynne's hand.

By contrast, Wynne made herself available to talk to journalists.

"Thank God I won the match after Tangphong had defeated me before," Wynne said.

"She made a lot of mistakes in the first set when she forced herself to go on the offense, while I tried to be more restrained," she explained.

Wynne said she recalled wise words from a local imam when she came up against the seemingly resurgent Tangphong in the second set.

"I remember Aa' Gym saying that we need to stay calm during play. I followed this advice out on court and kept focused on the match. It worked," she said.