Indonesia tennis queen Yayuk out of Wismilak Open

JAKARTA (JP): Tennis enthusiasts will find something missing while watching the WTA Tour Wismilak Open women's tennis championship in Surabaya, East Java next week as Yayuk Basuki has opted out of the US$100,000 tournament.

"Yayuk risks losing 100 ranking points if she loses here. She prefers to improve her ranking by defending her title in Beijing," Kevin Livesey, an official of the Women Tennis Association said in Surabaya on Tuesday.

"I want Indonesian fans to understand this dilemmatic situation," Livesay said.

He added that such a high ranked player as Yayuk should avoid competing in Tier 4 tournaments, the lowest tournament sanctioned by the WTA.

The highest ranked tournament sanctioned by WTA is Tier 1. It offers at least $800,000 in prize money. The four Grand Slam tournaments are all Tier 1 events.

Yayuk was seeded first in the inaugural event last year, but crashed to eventual champion Elena Wagner of Germany in the quarterfinals.

The Indonesian world number 25 is now making her title defense attempt in the Nokia Open in Beijing, the only professional tournament held in China.

Livesey admitted that Yayuk's decision disappointed the organizing committee. The committee offered Yayuk a wild-card entry last week for the tournament to be held at the Embong Sawo tennis center.

Wagner will also miss the event because of an injury. She is playing at home in Leipzig.

Taiwanese world number 46 Wang Shi-ting tops the seed in the 32-field tournament. If the draw runs as expected, she will meet second seed Rubbi Ghirardi of France in the final.

Thailand's rising star, Tamarine Tanasugarn, who is expected to don her national colors in the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, was included in the main draw.

Tournament director Agus Susanto said the organizers will grant the two wild-card entries to national players. However, he failed to name the recipients.

He said the entrance of four top ranked players will surely make the annual event sponsored by a clove cigarette company more challenging.

The four tops players are Wang of Chinese Taipei, China's Fang, South Korean Park Sung-hee and Tamarin of Thailand.

Main draw qualifying rounds are due to start today.

Meanwhile in Beijing, Yayuk was stretched to three sets before defeating Hong Kong's Tang Min 3-6 6-3 6-3 in yesterday's first round matches. Yesterday's other match saw China's Fang advance to the second round with a quick 6-3 6-0 win over Eleni Rossides of the U.S. (amd/rsl)