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.