Basuki survives nightmare to upset Dutch seed

Basuki survives nightmare to upset Dutch seed

PARIS (AFP): Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia upset big-serving
seventh seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy at the 480,000-dollar WTA
Paris Open yesterday in a gruelling three-set marathon and then
admitted that playing the 6ft 2in (1m 88) Dutch player was "a
nightmare".

The 26-year-old Basuki, who stands 5ft 4in (1m 64), had to
stand up to a barrage of aces from the powerful Schultz-McCarthy
in the two-hour marathon and recover from a sticky patch in the
second set before scoring a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

Schultz-McCarthy, who beat the Indonesian player in straight
sets in their only other meeting at Wimbledon in 1995, did what
she could to help by hitting a series of double-faults on
important points.

"It's almost a nightmare for me to play her. She is so strong
and one of the hardest players for me to beat," said a delighted
Basuki after her victory.

"This is my best win in 1997 so far and I am feeling great."

Basuki, ranked 27th but no stranger to notching up surprises -
she beat France's Australian Open finalist Mary Pierce in Sydney
last month - now plays last year's finalist Iva Majoli of Croatia
in the quarter-finals.

Top-seed Martina Hingis took half a dozen games to come to
terms with the surface of the Coubertin center court and then
showed what a difference a year can make as she sprinted past
"jinxed" player Silvia Farina of Italy at the Open on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old world number-two, unbeaten so far this year
and recent winner of the Australian Open, scored a 6-3, 6-4
victory over Farina to avenge a defeat which has rankled for the
last twelve months.

Last year's finalist Iva Majoli saw off a spirited assault by
17-year-old French hope Anne-Gaelle Sidot 6-4, 6-3.

The forth-seeded Croatian now plays either Yayuk Basuki of
Indonesia or seventh-seeded Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the
Netherlands for a place in the semifinals.

The 27th-ranked Yayuk reached the showdown with big-serving
Schultz-McCarthy when she defeated Barbara Schett of Austria 6-4,
7-5.

Becker wins

In Dubai, Boris Becker lifted his 1997 match record to a win
and a loss Wednesday as he fought to dismiss fellow German Marc
Goeller in the first round of the million dollar Dubai Open here
Wednesday.

Becker fired over 25 aces to win 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 and then
learned that his worst nightmare Carlos Moya -- who beat the
German in the first round of the Australian Open -- had been
eliminated.

The Spanish world No. 9 fell 2-6, 6-0, 7-5 to Czech Jiri Novak
in one hour 18 minutes.

German Davis Cup teammates Bernd Karbacher and David Prinosil
both lost.

Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic ousted Karbacher 6-4, 6-
3 while Spanish sixth seed Alberto Costa accounted for Prinosil
6-2, 6-4.

Australian wildcard entry Pat Cash went into the second round,
beating Spaniard Carlos Costa 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6).

Agassi struggles

In San Jose, California, in his first match on the tour since
being booed out of the ATP Championships in November, Andre
Agassi had to struggle mightily Wednesday to get past Bahamian
Davis Cupper Mark Knowles 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the first round of the
$303,000 Sybase Open.

"I expected to be more rusty than I was," the third-seeded
Agassi said. "I don't expect my game to come back quickly, it's
just nice to be playing again. At this stage, I'm just looking to
improve match by match. I'm in it for the long haul."

World number-one Pete Sampras advanced to the quarterfinals,
beating up-and-coming American Justin Gimelstob 6-2 6-3 in a
second-round match.

In Marseille, France, top two seeds Marcelo Rios and Thomas
Enqvist reached the second round of the Marseille Open tennis
tournament with straight-sets wins Wednesday.

Chilean top seed Rios was made to work in the first set by
Spaniard Juan Albert Viloca before winning his first-round match
7-6 6-4.

Enqvist, the second seed, was more impressive as he crushed
fellow Swede Patrik Fredriksson 6-1 6-2.

Rios was to meet Belgian Johan van Herck in the second round
yesterday while Enqvist faced an interesting test against Slovak
Dominik Hrbaty.