Indonesia forces Argentina to 1-1 tie in Fed Cup
Indonesia forces Argentina to 1-1 tie in Fed Cup
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia, on the strength of Yayuk Basuki's win
over Florencia Labat, forced favored Argentina to a 1-1 tie after
the first day of their Federation Cup tennis clash at the Senayan
indoor tennis stadium yesterday.
But it was Romana Tedjakusuma who received kudos from a 3,000-
strong crowd for her deft and gamely performance before going
down fighting 5-7, 2-6 to world number seven Gabriela Sabatini.
Indonesia's number one Yayuk had yet to show her best tennis
but managed to stop Florencia Labat's arduous challenge with a
straight set 7-5, 6-4 win to level the tie.
Argentina's backbone Sabatini needed almost one and a half
hours of struggle to complete her first singles match against her
unheralded opponent.
Served first, Romana broke Sabatini to go 3-0 up as the
Argentinean misfired her backhand top spins. The Indonesian,
ranked only 295 in the world, consistently hit to backhand during
rallies while awaiting Sabatini's mistakes to take a 5-3 lead.
Sabatini employed much of her experience to make a superb
comeback. She exploited Romana's lack of confidence at the net by
drilling drop shots and drawing her in. Although plucky Romana
was quick in moving around the baseline, she displayed miserable
footwork in running for Sabatini's deep stop balls.
Sabatini sealed the set, thanks mainly to Romana's fading
touches. Romana belted a number of unforced errors in the second
set, giving Sabatini a light workout in just half an hour.
"I have done my best but Sabatini is more powerful than I,"
Romana said afterward. "I was trying to focus on her backhand,
but she managed to hit every return well."
Sabatini admitted she needed time to gauge the opponent she
played for the first time. "She is very consistent but needs to
be more aggressive," she said of Romana. Sabatini said she was a
little bit disturbed with the overjoyed crowd.
Romana could play a crucial match against Labat in today's
reverse singles, just after Sabatini meets Yayuk.
Service game
Both Yayuk and Labat played a service game in the first set of
the match which saw only few rallies. World number 44 Labat
handed Yayuk a tough fight from the baseline until 5-5, before
she netted a number of sliced backhands to let the Indonesian
close the set.
Yayuk's powerful strokes hit the target to help her race to a
3-0 lead in the second set. But the Indonesian world number 21
displayed a drastically dropping form, firing every ball wide to
earn Labat four games in a row.
Going 3-4 down in the eighth game, Yayuk bounced back with
numerous approaches and found Labat, whom she beat twice
previously, fail to overcome her nerves. Yayuk made a lunging
forehand drop volley to win this crucial game.
Rejuvenated Yayuk, amid her cheering fans, went on to take the
charge to win her service game. Desperate Labat double faulted
twice and hit her sliced backhand to hand Yayuk the victory.
"I lost my concentration when I was 3-0 up because of the new
balls. But I had no problem once I got used to the balls," Yayuk
said.
Yayuk declined to comment on her match against Sabatini, but
promised to play a never-say-die game. "Winning or losing is the
secondary point," she said.
Australia tied
In another Group One matches in Perth, host Australia and the
Slovak Republic were also locked at 1-1 after the first day of a
Fed Cup, Group One, women's tennis tie yesterday.
Karina Habsudova gave the Slovak Republic a flying start when
she eclipsed Rachel McQuillan in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3 in only
65 minutes on the grass center court at Royal Kings Park.
But the home country's Nicole Bradtke recovered from a dismal
opening set to beat Radka Zrubakova in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Meanwhile in Sofia, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita
Martinez gave Spain a comfortable 2-0 lead over Bulgaria in their
Fed Cup World Group first round tie yesterday.
Sanchez Vicario, the world number two, beat Katerina Maleeva
6-3, 6-3 and Martinez, the world number four, later defeated
Katerina's sister Magdalena 6-2, 6-4, AFP reported.
The two teams play a further three matches today, with the
winner going through to the semifinals.
In Metz, France, Amanda Coetzer upset the home crowd when she
beat Australian Open champion Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-3 to put South
Africa 2-1 up in another World Group first round tie. (amd)