Benny and Yayuk still dominates national tennis
JAKARTA (JP): Benny Wijaya of Jakarta and Yayuk Basuki of Yogyakarta fortified their domination of national tennis in different ways yesterday.
Making her return to the National Games (PON), world number 29 Yayuk got off to a disastrous beginning before claiming a 2-6, 6- 4, 6-0 win over her Fed Cup teammate Wynne Prakusya of Central Java in the women's singles final.
Men's singles defending champion Benny, by contrast, took total control of his final match against fellow Jakartan Dede Suhendar giving him a 6-0, 6-0 walloping.
Benny, who won his title as a member of the East Java team at the last Games three years ago, steered his match from the baseline. He did everything right throughout the one and a half hour contest, but seemed to have trouble controlling his temper.
The former national number one player, whose entrance to the Games raised protests because of his refusal to play in the Davis Cup, was often booed for trading words with the referee over controversial calls.
Benny dominated with big forehands to the backhand side of the plucky Dede. The plan worked, with Dede producing unforced errors.
"Well, it seemed like an easy win, but Dede was absolutely not an easy man to beat," Benny said afterwards.
Benny said earlier that he decided to compete in the Games to prove that he was still the best in the country. A large cash bonus awaits him -- as well as the other Jakartan medal winners, but Benny played that down.
"Jakarta has struggled hard just to keep me in the Games. All I can do is give my best shots," he said. Benny also led the Jakarta men's team to a golden victory on Tuesday.
The men's singles bronzes went to Sebastian da Costa of Lampung and Andrian Raturandang of West Java, who were making a final tune-up before playing in the Davis Cup in Taipei next weekend. The Indonesian team will leave for Taipei today to acclimatize for the competition.
Experience
In the women's singles, top seed Yayuk failed to achieve her ideal form as quickly as she had hoped. Her problem serves and poor returns handed 15-year-old Wynne the opening set.
Yayuk only found her rhythm when she was 1-3 down in the second set. Experience helped Yayuk to claw back against a helpless Wynne.
"In the first and second sets, my movement on the gravel was not very steady. It was so slippery that it often put me on the left foot," said Yayuk, who forfeited her title at the 1993 Games because she was playing in the women's doubles semifinals at the U.S. Open.
"Thank God, experience helped me get out of trouble," Yayuk said.
Wynne, who played alongside Yayuk in the Fed Cup, said that she had simply tried not to concede too many unforced errors.
Yayuk's victory earned Yogyakarta its second gold medal in tennis after the women's team won a title on Tuesday. Yayuk, however, missed the women's doubles crown because her partnership with Maria Veronika Widyadharma failed to match the play of Wynne and Liza Andriyani in the first round. (yan)