Seles ends Yayuk's run in Canadian Open
Seles ends Yayuk's run in Canadian Open
MONTREAL (Agencies): Top seed and defending champion Monica Seles of the United States ended the impressive run of Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki to reach the final in the Canadian Open women's tennis championships here on Saturday.
Seles made short work of unseeded Yayuk, 6-0, 6-3, to set up her 11th clash with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain for the title in the US$926,250 tournament. The second seed Spaniard was extended by one game as she cruised past Kimberly Po of the United States 6-0, 6-4 in the other semifinal.
Yayuk, whose current world ranking of 31 is expected to climb when the latest world rankings are issued today, failed to maintain the form which helped her eliminate three seeded players en route to the semifinals.
The Indonesian topped third seed Iva Majoli of Croatia in the second round, number 16 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia in the third round and 13th seed Amy Frazier of the United States in the quarterfinals.
Yayuk has lost both of her encounters with Seles in four years. Seles last beat Yayuk in the third round of the Australia Open in 1992.
Although Seles lost only seven points on Saturday in a 19- minute first set marked by Yayuk's inability to keep the ball in play, she wasn't pleased.
"I played pretty tentatively at times and my serve was really off," said Seles. "I'm not comfortable with my ball toss at all."
The 22-year-old Yugoslavian-born American is seeking her fourth title this year and first since capturing the Direct Line Championships in Eastbourne, England, in June. She owns a 10-1 record against Sanchez Vicario.
Seles, the co-number one ranked player in the world, made her return to the Tour here last year after a 27 1/2-month absence after a March 1993 stabbing incident in Hamburg, Germany.
While Seles has been on top of her game, Sanchez Vicario has been equally tough as she has not dropped a set on her way to the final. The world's second-ranked player will be making her sixth appearance in a final this year. She won the Family Circle Cup in April and the Hamburg Open in May and was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing to Germany's Steffi Graf on each occasion.
"I feel very comfortable in Montreal," Sanchez Vicario said. "It's one of my favorite tournaments. Even before I had success here I felt like people here are connecting well with me. It gives me a lot of motivation."
Like Yayuk, the 90th-ranked Po had beaten number four seed Anke Huber of Germany and fifth-seeded American Mary Joe Fernandez.
But in Saturday's semifinal against Sanchez Vicario she made 34 unforced errors to Sanchez Vicario's 14.
"It was pretty easy at the beginning," said Sanchez Vicario. "But Kimberly started to play better in the second set. It was a good match for me because I took the ball early and she was probably surprised that I went for my shots."
Looking ahead to playing Seles, Sanchez Vicario said: "I've just got to stay aggressive and go for my shots because she won't miss and she'll run down everything."