Surprise wins in Princess Cup quarterfinals

Surprise wins in Princess Cup quarterfinals

TOKYO (AFP): Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia and Naoko Sawamatsu of
Japan scored upset victories yesterday in the quarterfinals of
the US$450,000 Princess Cup women's tennis tournament.

Yayuk, currently ranked top in Asia at 22nd in the world,
showed no ill effects of her hard work late Thursday night as she
battled in swirling winds to beat American fourth seed Kimberly
Po 7-5, 6-3.

Unseeded Sawamatsu, having played past midnight Thursday,
shocked 1994 Wimbledon champion and third seed Conchita Martinez
of Spain 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

China's number one Li Fang crashed to a 3-6, 5-7 defeat to
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, while top favorite Monica Seles
waltzed into the semifinals with a lopsided 6-1, 6-0 win over
Natasha Zvereva of Belarus.

"For me, this is the opportunity that I should take, because
it's a big match to qualify for the semifinals," said Yayuk,
fifth seed.

"Even though I couldn't play my best tennis, I tried to hang
in there. I feel great. I've never come this far in Japan before.
This is the first time for me to reach the semifinals," Yayuk
added.

Meanwhile, Sawamatsu said she could not sleep after finishing
her second round match against fellow Japanese Mana Endo at ten
past midnight.

"My physical condition was far from my best after such a late
match, but that made me relaxed and play without feeling any
pressure," said Sawamatsu, after eliminating Martinez in 110
minutes.

"All the three matches I played her before were overseas and
most of the spectators supported Conchita. Today, it was Ariake.
We, Japanese, played many times here and got used to the
circumstances.

"I knew it would be different from the previous matches. I
went out onto the court believing I would be able to beat her.
The percentage of her first serve was not so good like before and
I was able to return well," added Sawamatsu.

Martinez, who seemed to be in her top form when she used her
dangerous forehand to beat Taiwan's number one Wang Shi-ting
Thursday, found her weapon useless against Sawamatsu.

The Spaniard tried to change the pace but the Japanese
returned everything back into the Spanish court with an angled
shot.

Martinez said: "I haven't played her for a long time, but she
hit some really good cross-court forehand shots. They were kind
of short and low, and definitely the shots that make you need
more steps to run for."

In the semifinals, Sawamatsu will challenge Seles, to whom she
has lost all the previous eight meetings.

"Even though I play 100 percent, it's far from 50-50 against
Monica. So I will have to play my 120 percent," said Sawamatsu.

McEnroe

In Johannesburg, there is too much money in modern tennis and
players are not doing enough to earn it, seven-time Grand Slam
champion John McEnroe said Thursday.

In an interview with South African news agency SAPA, McEnroe
added that South Africa's Wayne Ferreira is a perfect symptom of
the illness that has hit tennis today.

"There's just too much money in tennis at the moment," McEnroe
said. "Wayne is a very nice guy and a very fine player. He's a
guy who I'd like to see do well.

"But he needs to dig deeper. He messes up far too often. It's
just unacceptable to make the kind of mistakes he keeps making.
And yet he's still earning lots of money," McEnroe said.
"Wayne plays the way I play on the senior tour and it's
embarrassing."

McEnroe, who will be playing in a senior champions event in
Johannesburg next week was, ironically, beaten by Ferreira in
their only meeting -- at the 1992 Australian Open.

"Of course he had to go and play the match of his life against
me," said McEnroe wryly, but added: "I don't think these guys
really know how boring they are."

He did, however, believe that players like U.S. Open champion
Pat Rafter and French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten had possibly
begun a renaissance in the sport.

"They are good for tennis, especially the way they play," he
said. "They're aggressive. Rafter comes forward a lot while
Kuerten is constantly on the attack.

"That's the way tennis should be played -- not guys going for
winners from the baseline all the time."

The women's game is also beginning to come alive, he said.

"They would definitely win the award for having the more
interesting youngsters. With Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and
Anna Kournikova on the court, I think I'm watching Olympic
gymnastics."

Results

Princess Cup

Singles quarter-finals:
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spa) bt Li Fang (Chn) 6-3, 7-5
Yayuk Basuki (Ina) bt Kimberly Po (USA) 7-5, 6-3
Monica Seles (USA) bt Natasha Zvereva (Blr) 6-1, 6-0
Naoko Sawamatsu (Jpn) bt Conchita Martinez (Spa) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4

Doubles quarter-finals:
Park Sung-hee/Wang Shi-ting (Kor/Tpe) bt Henrieta Nagyova/Patty
Schnyder (Svk/Swi) 6-3, 7-5
Naoko Kijimuta/Nana Miyagi (Jpn) bt Rika Hiraki/Kimberly Po
(Jpn/USA) 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2
Monica Seles/Ai Sugiyama (USA/Jpn) bt Annabel Ellwood/Tamarine
Tanasugarn (Aus/Tha) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
Julie Halard-Decugis/Chanda Rubin (Fra/USA) bt Conchita
Martinez/Patricia Tarabini (Spa/Arg) 7-5, 6-3