Three out of four Big Mama’s girls crashed out in the opening round of “Bulungan Regent Women’s Open 2009” in Tanjung Selor, Bulungan, East Kalimantan today (May 13, 2009). The biggest hope of “BMW” camp (BMW stands for Boss Martina Widjaja) Ayu Fani Damayanti could not maintain the momentum of leading 6-3 in the first set, as her opponent eighth seed Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia fought back and sealed 6-4, 6-4 victory in such a sweet revenge. Meanwhile Lavinia Tananta continued her slump as she experienced similar drama as her club mate Damayanti. Tananta had to earn the opening set in hard way but prevailed to close it out 6-4, then Chinese qualifier Hao Jie stormed back to win 6-4, 6-3 and now she gains 3-0 in her head to head with Tananta just in two months. The last casualty was threepeat wild card and mentally fragile Beatrice Gumulya who completed “hattrick” as “Miss first round” within three weeks of East Kalimantan circuit in her adopted province. This time Gumulya suffered another defeat as she lost to Japanese qualifier Ai Yamamoto 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(1). In the final set, younger sister of Sandy Gumulya was on the brink of closing the match when she was up 5-4 but failed to do so then she stumbled in a heart breaking tie break. In ITF Junior Circuit, back in “Pangdam Siliwangi Cup 2005”, an ITF Grade 4 tourney in Bandung, West Java, Yamamoto barely won over Gumulya 6-4, 6-4.
Nevertheless, BMW’s camp could still have a grin as their hard-hitter wild card Jessy Rompies managed to show her mental toughness in a fierce battle and eventually edged past South Korean qualifier Kim Kun-Hee 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. In second round, Rompies will try to secure 2-0 head to head in two weeks against sixth seed Montinee “Ploy” Tangphong from Thailand. While former member of BMW’s camp who was trained only for three months last year then she decided to depart, wild card Cynthia Melita in her debut of 25K’s round 16, will challenge solid Chinese qualifier Yang-Yi.
More seeded players fell in the opening round. First, top seed Emily Webley-Smith from Great Britain lingered her losing trend in jungle empire of East Kalimantan as she lost to Chinese qualifier Yang Yi 1-6 retired. Another victim of the day was seventh seed Isha Lakhani of India who bowed out to German qualifier Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic 3-6, 5-7. In the meantime, the other seeds still advanced into second round such as second seed Stefania Boffa from Switzerland who posted an easy labor 6-1, 6-0 over “wrong choice” of wild card Dian Anggraini. It was Boffa’s back to back victory over Anggraini. Also through was fourth seed Vivian Segnini of “samba” land Brazil after she edged past South Korean Han Sung-Hee 6-4, 7-5. Bad luck for Han as she trails 0-2 in her head to head with Segnini after she lost last week in Tarakan 10K also in such a tight match.
Other non-seeds secured their berth into round 16 as they all saw-off their opponents. Thai Nudnida “June” Luangnam had relatively comfortable outing when she dispatched Japanese Yurina Koshino 6-3, 6-3. Recent winner of Tarakan 10K, qualifier Yang Zi-Jun of Hong Kong stretched her winning streak as she crushed Lu Jia-Jing from China 6-0, 6-1. Also advancing into the next round, Poojashree Venkatesha of India and Japanese Erika Sema. Venkatesha posted a victory over South Korean qualifier Ham Mi-Rae 6-0, 7-5, while Sema cruised past another qualifier Lu Jia-Xiang of China 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles’ quarterfinals, top seed veteran pair Yayuk Basuki/Romana Tedjakusuma of Indonesia forced to lose in a close battle as they bowed out to Ayu Fani Damayanti/Lavinia Tananta 4-6, 5-7. Damayanti/Tananta will meet duo Renee Binnie/Ai Yamamoto (Australia/Japan) in the last four round. Binnie/Yamamoto had relatively easy match as they won 6-2, 6-2 over qualifier Lu Jia-Xiang/Kei Sekine (China/Japan). Wild card pair Han Sung-Hee/Kim Kun-Hee (South Korea) defeated third seed duet Naomi Cavaday/Emily Webley-Smith of Great Britain with walk over. In semi-finals, “Kim Chee” duo, Han/Kim will clash with local pair, Beatrice Gumulya/Jessy Rompies who ousted Isha Lakhani/Zhang Ling (India/Hong Kong) 6-4, 6-4.
At this 25K tourney here in Tanjung Selor, the committee has been holding this event in indoor hard courts. It has been widely known that in the whole Kalimantan including East Kalimantan “black out” is such a common thing. Yesterday, all matches were delayed until late noon due to electricity outage since morning. It was such a shame indeed as the committee could have anticipated it before by providing generator. Well, it happened anyway and another bad public relation for Indonesian tennis!
Photo of Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic is courtesy of sarah-rebecca-sekulic.com
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