Haarhuis claims first career title<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands defied a
\nworsening wrist injury to beat Czech Radomir Vasek yesterday at
\nthe Indonesia Men's Open tennis championships. The victory was
\nthe first singles title of his career.<\/p>\n
It was more than a relief for Haarhuis, whose 7-5, 7-5 win
\nover never-say-die Vasek in a hard-fought battle put an end to
\nyears of waiting for a singles triumph. In the previous two years
\nHaarhuis had fallen in the last hurdle of his three finals and
\nhad never got beyond the semifinals at the US$300,000 Danamon
\ntournament here.<\/p>\n
\"Everybody always says I'm a good doubles specialist. People
\nnever look at my singles record,\" said Haarhuis who tops the ATP
\nWorld Doubles ranking. He is currently ranked number 59 in the
\nlatest singles ranking.<\/p>\n
Haarhuis lost his singles finals in Singapore in 1992, and in
\nDoha and Philadelphia last year.<\/p>\n
Playing before a crowd of 200 at the 3,000-seat Senayan indoor
\ntennis stadium, second seed Haarhuis got off to a dreadful start
\nwhen he dropped his game for 0-3 down, following a string of
\nVasek's punishing crosscourts.<\/p>\n
The Czech world number 132 hit every stroke perfectly, except
\nfor his volleys. He saved a break point only to lose the fifth
\ngame after he netted a stop volley. Vasek came back to take
\ncharge, firing Haarhuis' baseline with his two-handed backhand
\nfor another break to take a 5-3 lead.<\/p>\n
But Vasek, who making his first finals appearance, lost his
\ngrip during the decisive game. He double faulted three times as
\nHaarhuis fired his passing shots for two breaks in a row. The
\nDutchman did not waste too much time while serving for a first-
\nset win, banging an ace and three big serves to seal the set.<\/p>\n
Haarhuis kept up his steam in the second set as Vasek remained
\nin big trouble with his volleys. Vasek added his wide lobs with
\ntwo netted stop volleys to concede a break in the fifth game and
\nlet his rival go 5-3 ahead.<\/p>\n
Composure is always the key point during a pivotal game.
\nServing for a win, Haarhuis shot every return wide to allow Vasek
\nto come level at 5-5.<\/p>\n
But error-prone Vasek squandered his chance with dozens of
\nnetted volleys, allowing his opponent to regain his confidence.
\nHaarhuis slammed his big serves to end Vasek's resistance.<\/p>\n
\"We get the confidence when we play rivals whose rankings are
\nfar below us, but both Vasek and I have the same chance to win
\nthe match since we played well to reach the final,\" said
\nHaarhuis, who walked away with the winner's $43,000 in cash.<\/p>\n
Australia Open<\/p>\n
He added that the victory would help him to play better in the
\nAustralian Open, which starts today. However the tournament could
\nturn out to have been a bad warm-up ground, since there is a big
\ncontrast in climate between Jakarta and Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Heavy rains have drenched Jakarta throughout the week while
\nthe heat in Melbourne has been 33 degree Celsius.<\/p>\n
Haarhuis will play singles as well as doubles with compatriot
\nJacco Eltingh. The Dutch tandem won the Australia Open men's
\ndoubles last year.<\/p>\n
Haarhuis reiterated his disappointment with the poor turn-out
\nduring the week-long tournament. \"It's too bad to see no crowd
\nwhen we play hard. It's frustrating,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the doubles, Russian-Australian duo of Andrei Olhovskiy and
\nDavid Adams took their first title of the year after beating
\nRonald Agenor of Haiti and Shuzo Matsuoka 7-5, 6-3. Olhovskiy and
\nAdams, who finished 1994 as world team number six, shared the top
\nprize money of $21,000 (amd).<\/p>",
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