Haarhuis strolls into semis of Indonesia Men's Open
Haarhuis strolls into semis of Indonesia Men's Open
JAKARTA (JP): Second seed Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands
overcame a slow start to roll over big serving Greg Rusedski of
Canada for a semifinal berth at the Indonesia Open men's tennis
championships yesterday.
Bouncing back from a 5-7 first-set down, Haarhuis steered the
match from his baseline for 6-3, 6-1 demolition of error-ridden
Rusedski. Haarhuis will make his second semifinal appearance here
today, but declined to predict a successful campaign at the
US$300,000 tournament, the warm-up ground for the Australia Open
Grand Slam championships.
"Every match is tough here," said Haarhuis has who failed in
all his visits here in the past two years. The Dutch doubles ace
crashed to a straight set loss to Germany's Carl Uwe Steeb in the
semifinals two years ago. It was even a worse result for Haarhuis
last year when he was beaten in the first round by Lars Johnsson
of Sweden.
In another quarterfinal match later yesterday Ronald Agenor of
Haiti doused Frenchman Guillaumme Raoux's fire with a 6-4, 6-4
victory.
Haarhuis' disastrous start almost ended when his shaky stop
volleys cost him two break points at 1-2 down in the second set.
He was lucky to save his service game as Rusedski netted two
returns.
Surviving the thriller, the Dutch world number 59 regained his
composure in the next game. He fired a series of passing shots
which put Rusedski on the wrong foot for a break.
Rusedski fought back with a number of approaches before
handing his opponent another break for a 3-3 tie. The left-handed
Canadian blasted an ace, but then double faulted to concede his
second broken serve.
Haarhuis kept on his charge, while Rusedski seemed to have
big trouble with his backhand drives. The resurgent second seed
displayed his brilliant ball placing in return for Rusedski's
smashes. Haarhuis sealed the second set with a break after an
upset Canadian hit his second double fault.
The deciding game belonged to Haarhuis who quickly raced to a
3-0 lead after breaking Rusedski in the second game. Haarhuis
drilled his two-handed backhand to the right side of his left-
handed opponent.
A tiring Rusedski dropped another game to allow Haarhuis to
take a commanding 5-1 lead. Serving for a win, however, Haarhuis
was forced to save three break points, following a bad call over
a double fault.
The Dutch world doubles number one kept cool to defy the
scare, pouring down triple aces, then hitting a volley winner to
take the match point. Rusedski's wide volley gave Haarhuis the
victory.
"I got back my confidence after breaking his serve in the
second set. I played better then," said Haarhuis, who showed up
at the press conference with a banded wrist. (amd)