Yayuk seeded third at Indonesia Open<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The country's number one player and defending
\nchampion Yayuk Basuki is seeded third at the Indonesia Open
\nwomen's tennis championships starting here on Monday.<\/p>\n
The seeding list issued yesterday by the Indonesian Tennis
\nAssociation (Pelti), organizer of the US$100,000 annual event,
\nput world number 34 Wang Shi-ting of Chinese Taipei atop the 32-
\nplayer rankings. Florencia Labat of Argentina, who is ranked 36
\nin the world, was placed second.<\/p>\n
Yayuk, 23, dropped her Women's Tennis Association (WTA)
\nranking to 48 after her disappointing performance in Asian and
\nAmerican outings in the last two months. She capped her four-year
\ncareer by entering the world's best 30 last February after
\ntriumphing at the Nokia Open in China.<\/p>\n
The grass-court specialist, however, has failed to maintain
\nher form since then. She last fell in the first hurdle at the
\nhands of Nicole Arendt of the United States at the Volvo Open
\nwomen's tennis tournament in Pattaya last week. Yayuk won the
\n1991 and 1993 editions of the WTA-sanctioned championships.<\/p>\n
\"We really hope to see Yayuk set up a final showdown against
\nWang next week,\" said Pelti secretary general Edy Katimansah.
\nBoth players avoided a meeting at the Nokia Open as Wang pulled
\nout of the first professional tennis competition held in China in
\nthe last minutes.<\/p>\n
Yayuk is now eying a hat-trick at her country's most lucrative
\nwomen's tennis meet sponsored by Bank Danamon. The draw will be
\nannounced this weekend, and if everything goes as expected, Yayuk
\nwill meet Labat in the semifinals.<\/p>\n
The seeding list put another Indonesian, Romana Tedjakusuma,
\nin the seventh place behind American Kristine Radford, Rachell
\nMcQuillan of Canada and Sandrine Testud of France. Arendt was
\nranked eighth. Romana, currently world number 88, will make her
\nfirst appearance at the tournament's main draw.<\/p>\n
The winner of this year's Indonesia Open will qualify for the
\n$750,000 German Open in Berlin in May. The competitions will be
\nstaged at the Senayan indoor tennis stadium, which uses the
\nrebound ace surface, the same surface used in the Australian
\nOpen.<\/p>\n
Top seed Yayuk captured the title and bagged the winner's
\n$18,000 check last year by beating second seed American Ann
\nGrossman in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/yayuk-seeded-third-at-indonesia-open-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}