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)