The opening day of “Garuda Indonesia Tennis Masters” was interrupted by sprinkle of rain and some of the matches were forced to be delayed for a couple of times. Such unfriendly weather and windy condition did not hamper stiff competition demonstrated by the players in their stints as scheduled on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at Tennis Complex of the Executive Club of the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta.
An early shock occurred in the first match of “Rajawali” group when second seeded Sunu Wahyu Trijati bowed out to eight seeded Nesa Arta 6-7(3), 2-6. In the opening set the battle filled with fierce and interesting exchange of strokes from both contenders. Then in the second set, Arta shifted to take control of the match and demolished funky but drastically worn out Trijati to clinch an important victory.
In another action of the same group, fifth seeded Christopher Rungkat showed-off his game style with typical aggressive attack from the baseline. His opponent fourth seeded Andrian Raturandang had to work hard in anticipating Rungkat’s spray of shots and many times the older Raturandang could only answer with his defensive slices to keep the ball in play. On the other side Rungkat ruthlessly did not give any space for his senior to find his own rhythm. In the end Rungkat secured his campaign with one sided victory 6-0, 6-0.
In “Garuda” group top seed Elbert Sie faced strong challenge by seventh seed Surya Wijaya Budi, but this Bandung resident was at ease in handling critical moments and he closed it out 6-3, 6-4. Another battle between third seed Prima Simpatiaji against sixth seed Sebastian Da Costa was relatively easy for tall Simpatiaji to beat his older opponent 6-2, 6-2.
In the women’s draw of “Cenderawasih” group, the first ever match in Indonesia of fourth seeded Angelique Widjaja and sixth seeded Sandy Gumulya was a magnet for some loyal fans. The battle between former number one of Indonesia and the incumbent of numero uno in Indonesia colored with groundstroke contest from the two players. Gumulya had the advantage of well-maintained physical endurance, mental toughness and consistency in retrieving the balls from Widjaja. It was obvious to witness Gumulya in how she applied the strategy of forcing her opponent to make errors. The evident of Widjaja’s lack of training was the price she had to pay as she lost 4-6, 3-6 eventually.
It was a sweet revenge for Gumulya in front of the home crowd. At Changsha, China 25K in 2006 she was beaten by Widjaja 5-7, 5-7 in the second round. It was no surprise to know Gumulya’s victory as she kept on playing in the tour and totally she had participated in 15 tournaments this season from 10K all the way to tier 3 of Bali. In contrast Widjaja just played her 10th match in the last two months and she has been having very little training exposure to stay competitive.
The victory of another match in the same group was claimed by top seed Ayu Fani Damayanti who crushed her former doubles’ partner and seventh seed Septi Mende 6-1, 6-1. Then in “Merak” group third seed Lavinia Tananta was still a better player than fifth seed Grace Sari Ysidora when she clinched 6-4, 6-1 victory. Along the match Tananta was simply in control of the game despite Ysidora’s strong effort to keep up with her opponent’s pace.
Another battle in “Merak” group lasted more than 2 hours and it was such a drama between second seeded Liza Andriyani and eight seeded Jessy Rompies. Playing quite consistent with her attacking game, Rompies was comfortable in taking the opening set 6-1. In the second set, the battle got uglier as both players fought hard by demonstrating long rallies. “Veteran” Andriyani had the chance at 5-2 to close the set but she seemed to lose her focus which caused her younger opponent to get closer 4-5. In such situation Andriyani was able to shift back into the game and then she closed it out 6-4. In the final set Rompies also took 5-2 lead and her supporters were confident in seeing Rompies to finish the match, but abruptly cramp struck her left hip. Immediately she called a trainer for treatment.
Then Rompies resumed in the match while Liza had prepared to keep on fighting in wearing her opponent’s down and she was able to close the gap 4-5. Drama continued as Rompies had another cramp on her right upper thigh and forced her to call a trainer back. It took longer time as Rompies looked terribly painful when she sat down on the side of the court. She seemed uncomfortable when she walked towards the baseline to be in the game again. Andriyani cleverly mixed angle shots which made Rompies to be awkward in hitting those back few times and eventually she raised her hand as signal of giving-up to the chair umpire. Then as Andriyani approached towards her to shake hand, Rompies instantly fell on the side of the court and the whole entourage of coaches along with players of the elite camp swarmed towards her to give her comfort.
In men’s doubles competition, “Elang” group’s top seed pair Hendri Susilo Pramono/Nesa Arta faced strong challenge from eight seed Elbert Sie/Ryan Tanujoyo but Pramono/Nesa prevailed on important points to secure 7-5, 7-6(5) victory. In the same group, fourth seed Aditya Harry Sasongko/Andery Setyawanto barely had any difficulty in ousting sixth seed Edy Kusdaryanto/Ferdy Fauzi 6-2, 6-1. In “Kasuari” group, third seed Sebastian Da Costa/Surya Wijaya Budi saw-off fifth seed David Agung Susanto/Faisal Aidil 7-5, 6-3. While seventh seed duo Andrian Raturandang/Christopher Rungkat shocked second seed duet Prima Simpatiaji/Sunu Wahyu Trijati with 6-3, 7-6(4) victory.
Photo of Widjaja is courtesy of Dwi Ari Setiyadi/Kompas Images
Photo of Gumulya is courtesy of Indotennis.com
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