Yayul waltzes into tennis quarterfinals<\/p>\n
By Primastuti Handayani<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (JP): Indonesia's tennis queen Yayuk Basuki opened her
\ncampaign in devastating fashion for the women's singles gold
\nmedal at the 13th Asian Games on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Armed with blistering serves and volleys, world number 58
\nYayuk was in another class from Tayana Babina of Kazakhstan. She
\ndid not lose a game in the second-round match at the Muang Thong
\nThani sports complex which lasted only 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Despite the easy win which earned her a quarterfinal berth,
\nYayuk appeared disappointed with the lack of challenge from an
\nopponent she had expected to provide her with a tune-up for the
\nrest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
"She's not as tough as I expected. She didn't even fight at
\nall," the third seed said after the match.<\/p>\n
Babina, who beat Nida Waseem of Pakistan in the first round on
\nSaturday, was kept running throughout the match and had no answer
\nfor Yayuk's strokes.<\/p>\n
In the quarterfinals, Yayuk will play Iroda Tulyaganova of
\nUzbekistan who upset seventh seeded Haruka Inoue of Japan 6-4, 6-
\n3 in another second-round match.<\/p>\n
Yayuk's coach and husband Suharyadi warned that the Indonesian
\nbest women's singles player could face an uneasy encounter with
\nthe 16-year-old rookie.<\/p>\n
Indonesian team manager Benny Mailili was upbeat that Yayuk
\nwould overcome Tulyaganova.<\/p>\n
"She (Tulyaganova) committed too many errors in her win. If
\nYayuk maintains her form, there is no chance for Tulyaganova to
\ncontinue her giant killing run."<\/p>\n
He added Yayuk would need only to force long rallies to wear
\nout her teenage opponent's patience.<\/p>\n
If she wins her quarterfinal match, Yayuk will have a shot for
\na revenge from her defeat to Li Fang of China in the women's team
\nevent on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Second seed Li was untroubled in beating Jeon Mi-ra of South
\nKorea 6-3, 7-5, as was top seed and home favorite Tamarine
\nTanasugarn who dispatched Maricris Fernandez of the Philippines
\n6-3, 6-3.<\/p>\n
Wang Shi-ting was the other seeded player to fall on Sunday.
\nThe Taiwanese fourth seed lost to China's second-string Yi Jing-
\nQian 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 9-7 in a marathon battle lasting over two
\nhours.<\/p>\n
In the men's doubles, Indonesian unseeded pair of Bonit
\nWiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo had an easy path to the second round
\nin beating Liu Cheng-Yung and Wang Chih-Ping of Chinese Taipei 6-
\n2, 6-2.<\/p>\n
"The win came as no surprise because we've beaten them several
\ntimes," said Sulistyo.<\/p>\n
However, the Indonesian pair will have an uphill challenge in
\nthe second round against the second seeded duo of Mahesh Bhupathi
\nand Fasal Syed-Uddin of India.<\/p>\n
"We have a chance to win, but I think it's small. Bhupathi is
\na very good player. His serves and strokes are difficult to
\nreturn. He's like an eagle," Sulistyo said.<\/p>\n
Bhupathi usually teams up with Leander Paes who is missing the
\nAsian Games due to injury. The absence of Paes cost India the
\nmen's team gold medal it won in the 1994 Games in Hiroshima,
\nJapan.<\/p>\n
Paes and Bhupathi are ranked third in the world.<\/p>\n
Sulistyo said he was disappointed with the tough draw.<\/p>\n
"If only we maintained our ranking, we could have evaded an
\nearly meeting with the favorites."<\/p>\n
Indonesia said goodbye to its chance of winning a medal in the
\nmixed doubles event with the loss of both pairings.<\/p>\n
Liza Andriyani and Bonit Wiryawan won a set but finally went
\nout in a 6-1, 1-6, 3-6 defeat to eighth seeded Takahiro Terachi
\nand Rika Hiraki. Indonesia's other team of Yayuk and Sulistyo
\nlost to Vadim Kutsenko and Iroda Tulyaganova 5-7, 4-6.<\/p>",
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