Schalken beats El Aynaoui to win tennis championships
Schalken beats El Aynaoui to win tennis championships
JAKARTA (JP): Young gun Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands
tamed a drained Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco to win the
US$328,000 Indosiar Men's Open tennis championships here
yesterday.
Fifth seed Schalken, 20, piled on his powerful groundstrokes
that left El Aynaoui on the defensive throughout the match won by
the Dutchman 6-3, 6-2.
Schalken extended his personal record against El Aynaoui to 2-
0, after a victory in the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca last
year.
Home favorite Moroccan unexpectedly failed to match the gritty
play that helped him beat defending champion Paul Harhuis of the
Netherlands in Saturday's semifinals. Instead, El Aynaoui made
unnecessary mistakes and saw himself left behind in the points
race yesterday.
"I was very tired both physically and mentally," El Aynaoui
admitted at the post-match conference. "When I woke up this
morning, I felt I needed a few hours more sleep."
El Aynaoui, seeking his first ever tour title in his second
straight final appearance, dropped a game to go 1-4 down in the
first set.
Schalken maintained his aggressive approaches to the net in
the second set, forcing his opponent to defend strongly on his
baseline. The Dutchman led El Aynaoui by four games to love after
two broken serves by the Morrocan.
But haste proved costly for Schalken when he served for the
match. He double faulted twice to allow El Aynaoui a break point.
Schalken managed to regain his confidence, firing two aces and
went on with two more dynamite serves to win the match.
"I played well," Schalken, who blasted off 11 aces during the
final match, said afterwards. "I think he was a little bit tired;
he was also complaining about the weather and the sun."
Schalken pocketed the winner's check worth US$43,000 and a
replica of the President Cup. El Aynaoui received $25,300.
"I was expecting big serves and forehands from him," Schalken
said. It took him one hour and three minutes to win his second
career title.
El Aynaoui said he could not made full use of his deadly
forehands and services during the final.
"In the first game, I was not feeling too good," he said, "I
have problems concentrating. Things were not good today. I had
problems moving fast with my forehands," he said.
El Aynaoui said that Schalken was playing better.
"He played well and I was getting down," he said, "I don't
think I played my best tennis today."
Meanwhile, Rick Leach and Scott Melville beat fellow Americans
Kent Kinnear and Dave Randall 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 to win the doubles
crown and $25,000 in cash prize. Kinnear and Randall had to be
satisfied with $12,500. (05)
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