Haarhuis moves into Indosiar semifinals

Haarhuis moves into Indosiar semifinals

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Paul Haarhuis of the
Netherlands held off a persistent challenge from Guillaume Raoux
of France at the US$328,000 Indosiar Men's Open tennis
championships yesterday, surviving the thriller for a semifinal
berth.

World number 18 Haarhuis won 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in his
first real test after two easy games en route to yesterday's
quarterfinals, leaving his title defense campaign on shaky
footing as he is tipped to meet in-form Younes El Aynaoui of
Morocco in today's semifinals.

El Aynaoui powered his way to a 6-0, 6-1 steamrolling of
Emilio Sanchez of Spain in the earlier quarterfinal.

But Haarhuis refused to say that it was the most difficult
match he has ever played, "Yes, today I could have lost. But
Aynaoui is even tougher. It will be more difficult for me to beat
him."

Haarhuis got off to a disastrous start in the match between
two remaining seeds. He was left trailing throughout the power
play, before making a brilliant last-ditch effort.

Throughout the match, however, it was confident Raoux who
showed an exceptionally brilliant style with his artful slicing
which ironically turned erratic near the set points in the first
set and the match point in the decider.

The Dutch champion, on the other hand, gained points mostly
because of Raoux's mistakes - and apparently by luck.

But Haarhuis flatly rejected this. "I had to struggle not
because I played a bad match but because Raoux played very well
to the point of winning," Haarhuis told The Jakarta Post. "I'm no
Pete Sampras who can win easily," he added.

Sanchez had more than 250 people cheering him on, but it was
not enough to match a power game performed by Aynaoui, who is
seeking his first career title here.

The 1.93m Moroccan dominated the match from the start with his
flawless strokes from the baseline and a number of approaches to
the net. El Aynaoui was so strong that he broke Sanchez' serves
six times in 11 attempts.

"I played and served very well, but he (Sanchez) was a little
bit nervous," world number 67 El Aynaoui told reporters at the
press conference after the match.

El Aynaoui, who upset world number three Thomas Muster in the
Qatar Open semifinals last week, relied on his big serves and
thundering forehands to tame the plucky Sanchez.

"My backhand is a little bit weak. I'd be in the world top ten
if my backhand were as strong as my forehand," El Aynaoui said.

The towering Moroccan blasted seven aces en route to an easy
first-set win which lasted only 16 minutes and 52 seconds.

The second set went off in the same way, with El Aynaoui
frequently racing up to the net for a volley winner. Sanchez, who
upset fourth seed Jacco Eltingh on Thursday, performed a brave
effort to break the duck in the fifth game of the second set.

Earlier on the day, Dutch young gun Sjeng Schalken bounced
back from a set down to defeat Swede Mikael Tillstrom 5-7, 6-2,
6-4 in one hour 53 minutes.

Schalken will now take on Michael Joyce of the United States,
a surprising 6-2, 6-3 winner over second seed Gilbert Schaller of
Austria, for a place in Sunday's final. (05/arf)