El Aynaoui stuns defending champ Paul Haarhuis
El Aynaoui stuns defending champ Paul Haarhuis
JAKARTA (JP): Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco upset defending
champion Paul Haarhuis to prevent an all Netherlands final at the
Indosiar Men's Open tennis championships yesterday.
El Aynaoui toppled Haarhuis 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to reach his
second successive final of the year. He will now take on another
Dutchman, Sjeng Schalken, his conqueror in an ATP tournament in
Casablanca last year.
Schalken needed three sets before downing unseeded Michael
Joyce of the United States 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In-form world number 67 El Aynaoui employed his ruthless serve
and volley game as top seed Haarhuis played error-prone tennis
yesterday. The spirited Morrocan double faulted twice but was
still too much for world number 18 Haarhuis, who dropped a game
to give away the first set.
Haarhuis sped up the pace to go 3-0 up in the second set, but
El Aynaoui fought back with two straight love games to level the
tie at 4-4. The two players produced another love game each to
settle the set in a tie breaker.
El Aynaoui appeared to close the match when he raced to a 4-2
lead in the tie break. A hasty play however cost him the set,
with Haarhuis sweeping five points in a row. El Aynaoui threw his
racket away in disappointment at the end of the tie break,
prompting the umpire to give him a point penalty in the deciding
set.
"I got crazier during the tie break because last week I lost
the very important tie breaker in the final," he told reporters
at the post-match press conference.
El Aynaoui lost to Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in the
Qatar Open in Doha after two close tie breakers.
Tight service games filled the final set, forcing some 1,000
tennis lovers, including chairman of the Indonesian Tennis
Association, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, to set all their eyes on
where the ball flew.
The decider went off almost the same as the opening set, with
a more patience El Aynaoui breaking Haarhuis' serve in the most
crucial game. Serving for the match at 5-3, El Aynaoui saved a
break point before scraping to two points in a row.
Better player
Haarhuis, who received most of the cheers from the spectators
at the center court of the Senayan tennis complex, admitted that
his rival played better.
"This guy played very well this time and his forehand is very
dangerous," Haarhuis said of the opponent whom he beat in the
early round here last year.
"It's very different then when I met him last year. He had
beaten Muster last week so he's full of confidence," he said.
Speaking about his chances in the final, El Aynaoui said that
he wants to control the match.
"Insya Allah (God willing), I hope I can win," he said. "I
know Schalken can play well so I have to be very careful."
Schalken admitted that he preferred playing compatriot
Haarhuis, whom he is familiar with, in the final.
Meanwhile, a solid partnership of Kent Kinnear and Dave
Randall of the United States defeated the Spanish-Dutch pair of
Emilio Sanchez and Schalken in rubber sets 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 to
set up an all-American final against Rick Leach and Scott
Melville. (05)