September 8, 2008
Main draw matches of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic 2008 got underway at the Grand Hyatt, Nusa Dua, Bali this afternoon. In its final stage this year, the tourney is part of Sony Ericsson WTA Tour with total prize money of $ 225,000. Three Indonesian players were among the entrants of its main draw in this prestigious event in South East Asia.
After the withdrawal of sixth seed, Li Na from China due to right knee injury today, 20 years old Lavinia Tananta received lucky loser and entitled to play in the main draw. Tananta (WTA 542) played the 1st match of the day at 3 pm on center court and she faced Polish Marta Domachowska (WTA 57) who has improved her ranking from WTA 146 up to her latest one. Domachowska had to go through qualifying round at Australia Open 2008 which she eventually performed her best result ever in any of grand slam career by reaching fourth round only to lose to Venus Williams. Tananta went out there and tried her utmost, but in the end, Domachowska was a better player and won 6-2, 6-3. Despite her early exit, Tananta could not be happier since she pocketed an unexpected $ 1,665 into her bank account.
Fifth seed from Milan, Italy, Francesca Schiavone (WTA 28) made a sweet return to Bali by defeating qualifier, Sandy Gumulya (WTA 264) 6-2, 6-0. Schiavone last time played here in Bali in 2005 and she ended-up as finalist. Currently number one in Indonesia, Gumulya had an early 2-0 lead but experienced Schiavone quickly knew what to do towards her opponent then managed to earn the next 12 games in a row. As usual, Gumulya relied on her forehand almost in the entire match and she was reluctant to utilize her backhand when needed.
Meanwhile in the next match, a big server from Uzbekistan, Akgul Amanmuradova (WTA 78) did not have to work hard to beat another qualifier, Ayu Fani Damayanti (WTA 823) 6-2, 6-1. Same as her compatriot, Gumulya, Balinese Damayanti quickly lead 2-0 in the early match and then Amanmuradova took charge of the whole match by serving 7 aces. Both Amanmuradova and Damayanti had 2 double faults.
On Sunday, September 7, 2008 the qualifying round was half of the full capacity. Total of 8 players were directly playing its final qualifying round. Damayanti edged past her compatriot, Tananta 6-2, 6-4. Gumulya gunned down Shikka Uberoi of India (WTA 772) 6-1, 6-3, while veteran and unranked Liza Andriyani lost to Olga Savchuk of Ukraine (WTA 121) 0-6, 0-6. Last but not least, Natalie Grandin from South Africa (WTA 305) defeated Ipek Senoglu of Turkey (WTA 849) 6-4, 6-1.
Photo - courtesy of commbanktennis.com
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