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