Yayuk Basuki goes one step better at Wimbledon<\/p>\n
LONDON (Agencies): Yayuk Basuki, who has reached the fourth
\nround at Wimbledon in four of her six previous visits, went one
\nstep better yesterday.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old Indonesian ruthlessly brushed aside
\nexperienced Canadian Patricia Hy-Boulais 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) for a
\nquarterfinals showdown with either third-seeded Czech Jana
\nNovotna or 11th-seeded American Mary Joe Fernandez.<\/p>\n
Yayuk, who has yet to drop a set at the Championships and who
\nhas conceded only 16 games in her first four matches, posted a
\npre-Wimbledon warning and rose to 26th in the rankings when she
\nreached the final at Birmingham three weeks ago -- upsetting top-
\nseeded Romanian Irina Spirlea on the way.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old Cambodian-born Hy-Boulais, a former Hong Kong
\nFed Cup player who is ranked 61, entered the Wimbledon record
\nbooks when she lost a 58-game first round match to Chanda Rubin
\nin 1995 -- the most games ever in a women's Grand Slam singles
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
Switzerland's world number-one Martina Hingis took another
\nstep toward the Wimbledon singles crown when she beat 19th-ranked
\nBelgian Sabine Appelmans 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Hingis, 16, now plays either Venezuelan Maria Vento or Czech
\nDenisa Chladkova.<\/p>\n
It was Hingis' third win in as many meetings with Appelmans
\nand her 41st win of 1997 against one defeat -- her loss to
\nCroatian Iva Majoli in last month's French Open final.<\/p>\n
Hingis needed just 66 minutes to complete the victory - just
\nbefore play was suspended by rain for the first time in four
\ndays.<\/p>\n
Hingis said she was happy to get the match over quickly
\nbecause she still had doubles and mixed doubles matches later in
\nthe day.<\/p>\n
Hingis sailed through the first set in 27 minutes. Appelmans
\nwent up a break at 2-0 in the second, but Hingis took command
\nagain when she broke for 4-3, setting up the point with a drop
\nshot, then tapping a backhand into the open court.<\/p>\n
Two games later, Hingis broke Appelmans again to close out the
\nmatch. Despite a swinging serve by Appelmans that pulled her off
\nthe court, Hingis stretched to hit a sliced backhand return that
\njust dropped over the net for a winner.<\/p>\n
"I got pretty lucky there," Hingis said. "I had almost no
\nchance. I barely got to the ball."<\/p>\n
Hingis remained on course to become the youngest Wimbledon
\nwomen's singles champion this century. The youngest was Charlotte
\n"Lottie" Dod, who won at the age of 15 years, 285 days in 1887.<\/p>\n
"Nobody saw me as a favorite at the beginning of the
\ntournament," Hingis said. "I got through pretty easily until now.
\nI'm improving every match. I feel pretty good. The draw doesn't
\nlook too bad for me."<\/p>\n
Appelmans said Hingis had everything it took to win the
\ntournament.<\/p>\n
"She's just a little better than most of us," the Belgian
\nsaid. "She hits a little bit earlier, a little bit faster."<\/p>\n
Rain<\/p>\n
Renewed rain stopped play at Wimbledon one hour after matches
\nstarted on the outside courts -- and just a few minutes after the
\nmain showcourt matches started.<\/p>\n
It was the first rain since last Friday, when the second of
\ntwo straight washouts forced Wimbledon to schedule play on the
\nmiddle Sunday for only the second time in history.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Tuesday started off as the brightest day of the
\ntournament so far. But the rain clouds moved in just after noon.
\nThe forecast said there was the possibility of more showers in
\nthe afternoon.<\/p>\n
After the waterlogged first week, the tournament was nearly
\nback on schedule. With all men's and women's fourth-round matches
\nscheduled for Tuesday, it figured to be the busiest day of the
\ntwo-week tournament.<\/p>",
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