At the C25 Pune over the weekend, Zhang Ling was defeated by No. 8 seed, Isha Lakhani of India, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the semifinals. However, she made amends by teaming up with Thailand's Varatchaya Wongteanchai to win the doubles by overcoming a one-set deficit against wildcard entries Wynne Prakusya and Angelique Widjaja, 1-6, 7-5, [10-5].
It was Zhang Ling's second career doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit after combining with Switzerland's Stefania Boffa to win the C10 Jakarta last September.
Earlier in the doubles semifinals, the Thai-HK pairing had already taken out No. 2 seeds Nina Bratchikova of Russia and Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, before prevailing in a super-tiebreak in the final against a pair of former Indonesian Fed Cuppers who was once ranked in the WTA's Top-25 in doubles. It was a very good win against two very good players, but bearing in mind that neither Prakusya nor Widjaja had been that active on tour of late.
Still only 22, Angelique Widjaja was ranked as high as No. 55 in singles (31 mar 2003) and No. 15 in doubles (2 Feb 2004) before a serious knee injury beset her progress on tour. Prior to this week's event in Pune, she has played only one match on the pro circuit this year, which was a 6-2, 2-6, [10-7], first round loss to Sun Tiantian and Ji Chuen-Mei at the Tier III Bali in September, also with Prakusya.
Prior to Bali, her last tour match came at the C25 Jakarta in November 2006 where she teamed up with Romana Tedjakusuma to win the doubles. Her longest injury break, however, occurred between September 2004 and January 2006 that totaled some fifteen months in all. Together with Argentina's Lucas Arnold, they eliminated Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova in the second round of the mixed doubles at the 2004 French Open.
As a junior, Angelique Widjaja won the girls' singles at Wimbledon in 2001 when she was a member on the ITF International Junior A Team to Europe that year. In 2002, she won her second Junior Grand Slam at Roland Garros and also peaked at No. 2 in singles and No. 1 in doubles that same year.
After winning both singles and doubles at the C25 Jakarta in November 2005, Wynne Prakusya, who turned 26 this April, had been in semi-retirement, having played only a handful of tournaments. She was ranked as high as No. 74 (5 Aug 2002) in singles and No. 24 in doubles (17 Feb 2003) previously.
She was the No. 1 seed at the 2001 Asian Championships at Victoria Park but was upset in the third round by No. 7 seed Jeon Mi-Ra of Korea, who went on to reach the final. Earlier in the opening round against Hong Kong's Tong Ka Po, the Indonesian was delivered a rude awakening when she lost the first set 6-0 before she managed to claw her way back to win the next two, 7-5, 7-5.
Results
US$25,000 ITF Women's Circuit
Pune, India
12 - 18 November 2007
WOMEN'S SINGLES
Quarterfinals
Zhang Ling (HKG) d. (q)Chae Kyung-Yee (KOR) 3-6 6-3 6-2
Semifinals
(8)Isha Lakhani (IND) d. Zhang Ling (HKG) 1-6 6-4 6-1
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Semifinals
Zhang Ling/Varatchaya Wongteanchai (HKG/THA) d. (2)Nina Bratchikova/Sandy Gumulya (RUS/INA) 6-3 6-4
Final
Zhang Ling/Varatchaya Wongteanchai (HKG/THA) d. (WC)Wynne Prakusya/Angelique Widjaja (INA) 1-6 7-5 [10-5]