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."