Ysidora ousted Gumulya to challenge Rompies in the final

The prestigious "10th Cigna Open" completed semi-finals of men's singles, women's singles and men's doubles along with women's doubles final yesterday at The Executive Club of Sultan Hotel, Jakarta. The first two matches were men's singles semi-finals at 9 AM. On the center court, top seed Christopher Rungkat battled against fourth seed Andrian Raturandang. Highly experienced Raturandang earned his first game immediately but then Rungkat romped with six games in a row to close the opening set 6-1.

In the second set, Indonesian numero uno Rungkat quickly cruised to lead 3-1. Raturandang kept the ball in play and challenged his much younger opponent to level it up 3-3. From then on, Rungkat was unstoppable with such better game penetration into Raturandang's weak spots to end the match 6-3. In the other semi-final showdown of two Davis Cup team mates, fifth seed Nesa Arta fired back from a deficit to beat the defending champion and second seed, Sunu Wahyu Trijati 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. In the final, Arta will play hot favorite Rungkat and it will be their second final against each other after "Garuda Indonesia Masters Series" last December when Rungkat came out as the winner.

Continued on the center court, it was women's singles semi-final between wild card yet second seed Beatrice Gumulya who clashed with third seed Grace Sari Ysidora. Opening the first set, Ysidora held her own serve with love game to be on board 1-0. It was Gumulya's turn to hold her serve then, 1-1. Ysidora did not waste her time to speed-up her pace to further lead 3-1 after she held another serve and broke Gumulya's. Younger sister of Sandy Gumulya instantly broke back to make it closer, 3-2. Ysidora played with her typical attacking game in earning two more games to reach set point 5-2. But then Gumulya was able to hold her serve to closer the gap 5-3 and in the end Ysidora stayed aggressive to take the opening set 6-3.

In the early part of the second set, Ysidora romped to lead 2-0 and Gumulya held her serve to make it 2-1. Since then Ysidora consistently hit various shots into the baseline and did not give Gumulya chances to utilize her own game. 15 years old Ysidora closed the match by breaking 18 years old Gumulya's serve as she hit forehand winner and sealed comfortable 6-1 in second set.

During the match, Ysidora had 14 winners, 16 unforced errors, 62% first serve percentage with no double fault. While Gumulya had 6 winners, 29 unforced errors, 56% first serve percentage and 2 double faults. Such victory by Ysidora over Gumulya was no surprise at all. Prior to this meeting, Ysidora has been leading 2-0 in her head to head with Gumulya. Both wins of Ysidora happened in 2007. At U-16 National Selection, Ysidora who was 13 years old at that time defeated 16 years old Gumulya then 6-2, 6-4. Later on at ITF Grade 4 in Solo, Central Java, Ysidora gunned down Gumulya 6-4, 6-3 in the final. Ysidora claimed her first ITF Grade 4 title when she was only 13 years old at Brunei in 2006 and until last June, this Batak descendant has collected total of 4 ITF Grade titles. In contrast, Gumulya a "late bloomer" just got her maiden ITF Grade 4 title at Solo, Central Java last November. Ysidora decided to play higher ITF Grade tourney so she played ITF Grade 3 in Sarawak where she was semi-finalist.

After three ealier rounds of topsy turvy for Rompies, this top seed had a relief yesterday as her semi-final match was so easy. Rompies took the first set 6-2 over fourth seed Mia Sacca then Sacca chose to retire due to her illness. Later in the day, Rompies returned to the court with her doubles partner, Gumulya and as top seed pair was scheduled to play against third seed duo Bella Destriana/Cynthia Melita. As solid pair, Rompies/Gumulya experienced difficulty as duet Destriana/Melita showed their fighting spirit towards doubles' semi-finalists at US Open 2008. Eventually, Rompies/Gumulya grabbed the title with 6-4, 6-4 victory.

In men's doubles semi-finals, top seed pair Rungkat/Arta slightly struggled against unseeded duet of Peter Handoyo/Andery Setyawanto but they managed to win 6-4, 6-4. In another semifinal, second seed pair Andrian Raturandang/Bonit Wiryawan had an easy stint as they crushed fifth seed duo Michael Christian/Surya Wijaya Budi 6-1, 6-2.

In the middle of “Cigna Open” tennis enthusiasts still talked about lack of intention to play for this tourney by the "elite" players of "Big Mama" camp. As informed by one of the officials of Indonesia Tennis Association, the "elite" camp's forever head coach, Suzanna Anggarkusuma apparently did not plan her entourage to enter "Cigna Open" at all. By doing it, the "elite" camp showed a disrespect attitude towards PT Asuransi Cigna, the main sponsor of this popular national tourney. Furthermore, an official from Indonesia Tennis Association conveyed that Anggarkusuma arrogantly asked for an appearance fee if her entourage asked to play for any tourney in the future. Such manner by her was not surprising at all as she has been notorious in creating controversies for many years. Anggarkusuma has been enjoying "privilege" status by hiding behind "tennis diva" Martina Widjaja's very expensive gown. It is truly a chronic disease inside "elite" Indonesian tennis and it has been lingering for many years but no one dares to speak-up or to criticize such irresponsible conduct. It is now or never to have a major overhaul within Indonesian Tennis in particular the "first layer" of it. Or else, tennis freaks will topple this highly-confident tennis regime. Yes, the heat should be much hotter from now on.