Tomashevich denies Bok second title

JAKARTA (JP): Uzbekistan's Dmitri Tomashevich buried Dutchman Martijn Bok's dream of winning his second title in the Satelindo Indonesia Satellite men's tennis circuit yesterday.

For his first career title, third seed Tomashevich, losing semifinalist of the circuit's first leg in Bandung, West Java, last week, displayed his mastery on clay to ease past a drained Bok 6-1, 6-3 in only 35 minutes of play at the Senayan tennis complex.

First-leg winner Bok came out to play his singles final after a 30-minute break which followed the resumption of his doubles semifinal match with Owen Casey of Ireland. Bok and Casey, losing doubles finalists last week, completed their match against Australian pair Andrew Bates and Blake Brinklow with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win.

Tomashevich, world-ranked 380, who beat Indonesia's lone semifinalist Andrian Raturandang Friday, broke his Dutch opponent to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. Bok held his serve in the third game but the spirited Uzbek Davis Cup player went charging along with his long drives, which sent Bok running to every corner of the court.

Bok, world-ranked 424, staged a comeback when he soared to a 3-1 lead in the second set. It was proved short-lived, however, as the Uzbek forced a number of exhausting rallies to pull level.

The remaining games belonged to Tomashevich, who steered the match mainly from the baseline.

Uzbekistan's number two player received the winner's US$812.50 cash prize, while runner-up Bok received $600.

"I think I played good. I listened to my coach's briefing yesterday," said Tomashevich, 22, a sports institute student in his country. "My next target is to reach the final in the third leg."

The penultimate stop of the circuit will take place in Semarang, Central Java, Monday through Friday, before moving to Surabaya, East Java, a week later.

Bok extended his losing streak in the doubles final when his shaky partnership with Casey was torn apart by Rob Chess of the U.S. and James Greenhalgh of New Zealand, who won 6-3, 6-4.

After going one set down, Bok and Casey came back strongly in the second to take a 3-1 lead. With Casey still fighting diarrhea, Chess and Greenhalgh sped up the pace to take over the control of the match.

The winners bagged $393.75, while the runners-up received $206.25. (yan)