Surprise wins in Princess Cup quarterfinals<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia and Naoko Sawamatsu of
\nJapan scored upset victories yesterday in the quarterfinals of
\nthe US$450,000 Princess Cup women's tennis tournament.<\/p>\n
Yayuk, currently ranked top in Asia at 22nd in the world,
\nshowed no ill effects of her hard work late Thursday night as she
\nbattled in swirling winds to beat American fourth seed Kimberly
\nPo 7-5, 6-3.<\/p>\n
Unseeded Sawamatsu, having played past midnight Thursday,
\nshocked 1994 Wimbledon champion and third seed Conchita Martinez
\nof Spain 7-6 (7\/4), 6-4.<\/p>\n
China's number one Li Fang crashed to a 3-6, 5-7 defeat to
\nArantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, while top favorite Monica Seles
\nwaltzed into the semifinals with a lopsided 6-1, 6-0 win over
\nNatasha Zvereva of Belarus.<\/p>\n
\"For me, this is the opportunity that I should take, because
\nit's a big match to qualify for the semifinals,\" said Yayuk,
\nfifth seed.<\/p>\n
\"Even though I couldn't play my best tennis, I tried to hang
\nin there. I feel great. I've never come this far in Japan before.
\nThis is the first time for me to reach the semifinals,\" Yayuk
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sawamatsu said she could not sleep after finishing
\nher second round match against fellow Japanese Mana Endo at ten
\npast midnight.<\/p>\n
\"My physical condition was far from my best after such a late
\nmatch, but that made me relaxed and play without feeling any
\npressure,\" said Sawamatsu, after eliminating Martinez in 110
\nminutes.<\/p>\n
\"All the three matches I played her before were overseas and
\nmost of the spectators supported Conchita. Today, it was Ariake.
\nWe, Japanese, played many times here and got used to the
\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n
\"I knew it would be different from the previous matches. I
\nwent out onto the court believing I would be able to beat her.
\nThe percentage of her first serve was not so good like before and
\nI was able to return well,\" added Sawamatsu.<\/p>\n
Martinez, who seemed to be in her top form when she used her
\ndangerous forehand to beat Taiwan's number one Wang Shi-ting
\nThursday, found her weapon useless against Sawamatsu.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard tried to change the pace but the Japanese
\nreturned everything back into the Spanish court with an angled
\nshot.<\/p>\n
Martinez said: \"I haven't played her for a long time, but she
\nhit some really good cross-court forehand shots. They were kind
\nof short and low, and definitely the shots that make you need
\nmore steps to run for.\"<\/p>\n
In the semifinals, Sawamatsu will challenge Seles, to whom she
\nhas lost all the previous eight meetings.<\/p>\n
\"Even though I play 100 percent, it's far from 50-50 against
\nMonica. So I will have to play my 120 percent,\" said Sawamatsu.<\/p>\n
McEnroe<\/p>\n
In Johannesburg, there is too much money in modern tennis and
\nplayers are not doing enough to earn it, seven-time Grand Slam
\nchampion John McEnroe said Thursday.<\/p>\n
In an interview with South African news agency SAPA, McEnroe
\nadded that South Africa's Wayne Ferreira is a perfect symptom of
\nthe illness that has hit tennis today.<\/p>\n
\"There's just too much money in tennis at the moment,\" McEnroe
\nsaid. \"Wayne is a very nice guy and a very fine player. He's a
\nguy who I'd like to see do well.<\/p>\n
\"But he needs to dig deeper. He messes up far too often. It's
\njust unacceptable to make the kind of mistakes he keeps making.
\nAnd yet he's still earning lots of money,\" McEnroe said.
\n\"Wayne plays the way I play on the senior tour and it's
\nembarrassing.\"<\/p>\n
McEnroe, who will be playing in a senior champions event in
\nJohannesburg next week was, ironically, beaten by Ferreira in
\ntheir only meeting -- at the 1992 Australian Open.<\/p>\n
\"Of course he had to go and play the match of his life against
\nme,\" said McEnroe wryly, but added: \"I don't think these guys
\nreally know how boring they are.\"<\/p>\n
He did, however, believe that players like U.S. Open champion
\nPat Rafter and French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten had possibly
\nbegun a renaissance in the sport.<\/p>\n
\"They are good for tennis, especially the way they play,\" he
\nsaid. \"They're aggressive. Rafter comes forward a lot while
\nKuerten is constantly on the attack.<\/p>\n
\"That's the way tennis should be played -- not guys going for
\nwinners from the baseline all the time.\"<\/p>\n
The women's game is also beginning to come alive, he said.<\/p>\n
\"They would definitely win the award for having the more
\ninteresting youngsters. With Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and
\nAnna Kournikova on the court, I think I'm watching Olympic
\ngymnastics.\"<\/p>\n
Results<\/p>\n
Princess Cup<\/p>\n
Singles quarter-finals:
\n Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spa) bt Li Fang (Chn) 6-3, 7-5
\n Yayuk Basuki (Ina) bt Kimberly Po (USA) 7-5, 6-3
\n Monica Seles (USA) bt Natasha Zvereva (Blr) 6-1, 6-0
\n Naoko Sawamatsu (Jpn) bt Conchita Martinez (Spa) 7-6 (7\/4), 6-4<\/p>\n
Doubles quarter-finals:
\n Park Sung-hee\/Wang Shi-ting (Kor\/Tpe) bt Henrieta Nagyova\/Patty
\nSchnyder (Svk\/Swi) 6-3, 7-5
\n Naoko Kijimuta\/Nana Miyagi (Jpn) bt Rika Hiraki\/Kimberly Po
\n(Jpn\/USA) 2-6, 7-6 (7\/3), 6-2
\n Monica Seles\/Ai Sugiyama (USA\/Jpn) bt Annabel Ellwood\/Tamarine
\nTanasugarn (Aus\/Tha) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
\n Julie Halard-Decugis\/Chanda Rubin (Fra\/USA) bt Conchita
\nMartinez\/Patricia Tarabini (Spa\/Arg) 7-5, 6-3<\/p>",
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