Sabatini takes revenge over Yayuk in erratic exhibition play
Sabatini takes revenge over Yayuk in erratic exhibition play
JAKARTA (JP): Gabriela Sabatini's service, or rather her
inability to serve with any consistency, proved to be the most
intriguing aspect of her exhibition showdown last night with
Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki at the Kemayoran Tennis Center.
The 24-year-old Argentinian, despite tallying an amazing 22
double faults in the first set, managed to scrape by with a 7-6
(7-4), 6-0 win over the Indonesian number one.
The scoreline also tells much about the numerous missed
opportunities for Yayuk, a player with immense natural talent but
one that often lets leads slip away through poor shot choices.
The Indonesian had won the first match of the exhibition
series with a 6-2, 6-2 romp over a woefully erratic Sabatini on
Wednesday. The deadlock was decided with a tiebreak played at the
end of last night's match. Yayuk won 7-5 as Sabatini served two
more double faults to bring her total to 26.
Sabatini seemed determined to redeem herself after her
listless performance on Wednesday. She took the ball early and
kept her groundstrokes deep to the Indonesian's backhand, hitting
strong approach shots, most falling close to the net.
The tactics paid off as she went ahead 4-1, and then 5-3. She
served for the set one game later but her dismal serving
performance suddenly reappeared.
The world number nine, a semifinalist in last week's U.S.
Open, suddenly served four double faults in a row to give Yayuk
the game. She seemed to have lost confidence in her ball toss,
throwing the ball too far in front of her and shrugging her
shoulders in dismay as her serves thudded into the bottom of the
net.
Capitalize
Yayuk did not capitalize on the advantage. Instead of trying
to slow down the pace of the match and adhere to the most basic
tennis strategy of making your opponent hit the ball, the
24-year-old Yogyakarta native persisted in trying to hit winners
off almost every shot. More often than not the balls sailed long
or wide into the tramlines.
With the psychological edge earned from winning the prolonged
first set, Sabatini began to play more consistently and attempted
to mix up the pace by hitting dinks and drop shots.
She broke Yayuk's serve in the second game as a flood of
unforced errors sprang from the Indonesian's racket. Sabatini won
14 points in succession before Yayuk could halt the drought, but
the Argentinian took the set at love.
"Yayuk is a great player, a very talented player," Sabatini
said of her opponent, currently ranked number 28 by the Women's
Tennis Association after the match. "She could be one of the top
players. Seriously."
Although Sabatini said she hopes to return to Indonesia soon,
it seems unlikely she will play when Indonesian meets Argentina
here next year for a Federation Cup tie. She has not played on
her national team since 1989.
-- Bruce J. Emond