Benny and Yayuk still dominates national tennis

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)