Two players from Central Java, David Agung Susanto and Cynthia Melita created their best achievement by claiming titles in boys' singles and girls' singles at recently adjourned (Sunday, December 7, 2008) “38th Brunei ITF Junior Circuit” which was staged at Bandar Seri Begawan, the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam.
As top seed, Susanto with world rank of ITF 217 as at December 1, 2008 proved that he was able to add his ITF junior title in the rich Sultanate after gunning-down sixth seed Chuang Ting-Yu of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Susanto reached his highest rank at ITF 156 almost a month ago and with this outcome, it is likely that his ranking will return inside top 200s. This freshly title is Susanto's third one in ITF junior circuit after Srilanka Grade 5 in 2006 and Solo Grade 4 in 2007.
In girls' section, Melita was awesome in continuing Indonesian girls' domination by grabbing her first ever ITF junior title. In the last two years, Indonesian girls were unstoppable since 2006 when at that time 13 years old Grace Sari Ysidora took her maiden title in ITF junior circuit then last year it was Angelina Jogasuria's turn to take her maiden title also when she was 16 years old. Looking back to the history, in its first inauguration of 1988 ITF Junior Circuit tourney in Brunei, the girls' singles crown was awarded to Dewi Fortunasari Wibisono from Indonesia. Known as Dewi Fortuna, she is still playing competitively now and at the same time she is an official umpire with an ITF accreditation.
This 15 years old girl from hilly town of Salatiga, Central Java is known with her blistering forehand but she lost the opening set first since her opponent and fourth seeded, Indian Malaysian Neesha Thirumalaichelvam closed it out, 7-5. Based on text message from touring coach of “Sportama Tennis Institute”, Lukky Tedjamukti, in the first set, Melita did not seem focus on her own game especially in critical moments and as result, Thirumalaichelvam took the opportunity to gain an early lead. In the next two sets, Melita regained her composure and fought back with her typical attacking game to pay the deficit. She came back strongly to seal 6-0, 6-2 victory.
By obtaining her first title ever, it seems clear that Melita has restored her confidence after she left the "elite" camp owned by well-off Martina Widjaja and to be exact immediately she closed her chapter of four months training with Mama's girls upon “Balikpapan International Junior Championships” ended. Personally, she improved her outcome in Brunei last year when she finished as semi-finalist. Along her junior career, a girl who likes red and blue, seemed to lock in three semi-finals of Grade 4 in Brunei 2007, Surabaya 2007 and Jakarta 2008. Such a breakthrough indeed she has made and it is purely sweet journey as her determination could produce title, moreover she has been experiencing low self-esteem in the past month.
In the semi-final, second seeded Melita (ITF 391) surprised herself to perform in her first ever final of her junior career. Melita smashed out third seed Srilankan Jithmie Jayawickrema 6-2, 6-1. En route to the final, Melita has been impressive by only losing seven games. In the other semi-final match-up, Thirumalaichelvam created shock theraphy and won over top seeded Nadia Frederika of Jakarta, Indonesia 6-3, 6-3.
One day prior to the final, doubles' title was already secured by Melita due to her partnership with her hitting-partner at "Sportama Tennis Institute", Nadia Frederika. As top seed pair, duo Frederika/Melita out-dueled second seed tandem of Nicole Hoynaski/Thirumalaichelvam (Australia/Malaysia) 7-5, 6-0. For Melita, it is her fourth doubles' title in ITF junior level and at the same time she was successful to defend it. Other titles of ITF Grade 4 were collected by Melita in Jakarta, Brunei and Surabaya which all occurred in 2007. While for Frederika, it is now her third doubles' title of ITF Grade 4 after Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados this year.
Boys' doubles' crown was given to fifth seed pair, Chuang Ting-Yu/Lee Tae-Woo (Chinese Taipei/South Korea) after defeating second seed combo of Chee Hong-Yuan/Louis Theodor (Malaysia/Indonesia) 6-2, 6-3. Theodor is younger brother of former player Lenz Theodor who is now studying and playing tennis at the university in the US.
Images of Melita & Frederika shot by Adji Soedibjo
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