Title holder advances to Indonesia Open semifinal
Title holder advances to Indonesia Open semifinal
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Yayuk Basuki survived a tight
three setter against her Japanese doubles partner Nana Miyagi to
secure a semifinal berth at the Indonesia Women's Open tennis
championships yesterday.
A 30-minute delay due to heavy rain during the deciding set
gave the home favorite the second wind needed to regain her form
before marching on to a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 quarterfinal win.
Yayuk now meets sixth seed Elena Spirlea of Rumania who
breezed past Dominique Monami of Belgium 6-2, 6-1 in another
match earlier yesterday.
Miyagi, who has soared into the 50s from the 300s in the
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) computer rankings, frightened
the home crowd with her two-hand strokes, which put Yayuk on the
run. Miyagi forced a stretched first set when Yayuk took a 5-3
lead and held the serve.
Miyagi kept up the pressure with deep backhands in the second
set, while Yayuk looked to be having problems with her stop
volleys. The Japanese hardly broke a sweat when Yayuk made errors
and dropped the set.
Only after minor medical treatment and a brief rest during the
break, could Yayuk regain her composure. Playing a blistering
serve and volley game, the resurgent second seed broke Miyagi's
serve to go 5-2 ahead in the decider.
Yayuk gave her fans another scare when she double faulted
twice and netted a stop volley when she served for a win. Miyagi,
however, failed to capitalize on the fact that Yayuk was tiring.
The Japanese seventh seed hit her backhand returns to the net to
hand Yayuk the victory.
"I was not in my best shape. I complained over a stomach
problem as I stepped on to the court," said Yayuk, referring to
her easy second set defeat.
It was clearly the most awaited match, as some 300 tennis
fans, well as a number of journalists, were curious about the
possibility the outcome of the match might have been "arranged".
"Do you think I will waste an important game when both of us
are struggling to get up in our careers?" Yayuk retorted sharply
to one journalist.
In another quarterfinal match yesterday, Maria Strandlund
lived up to Sweden's billing as a strong world tennis powerhouse
by toppling fifth seed Wang Shi-ting 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Strandlund maintained her superb serve and volley tennis which
conquered fourth seed and last year's runner-up Florencia Labat
of Argentina on Thursday.
The Swede, world number 147, invited most of the cheers soon
after she shocked Wang with a first set win. She slowed down the
pace in the second, but quickly regained her best form to race to
a 5-3 lead before wrapping up the match with her sharp volleys.
(amd)