Top seeds cruise into
Top seeds cruise into
Indonesia Open semis
JAKARTA (JP): All four top seeded players sailed through the
semifinals of the US$100,000 Indonesia Women's Open tennis
championships, but Wang Shi-ting, Yayuk Basuki and Kristin
Radford, first, third and fourth ranked respectively, sneaked
through with hard fought wins.
Taiwanese world number 34 Wang bounced back from a one set
deficit to tame lucky loser Nana Miyagi of Japan 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in
their quarterfinal match which lasted almost three hours. Wang
set a long awaited duel against home favorite Yayuk who posted a
6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 revenge win over American Nicole Arndt
in another three-hour cliff-hanger.
Radford dashed her Australian compatriot Rachel McQuillan's
hopes of winning the last semifinal slot with a hard-earned 4-6,
7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory.
Second seed Florencia Labat of Argentina had an easy passage
into today's semifinals as she breezed past qualifier Dinky van
Rensburg of South Africa 6-1, 6-2. The Argentinean now faces
either fifth seed Rachel McQuillan or Kristin Radford, both of
Australia.
The Yayuk victory relieved her crowds as the Indonesian number
one missed three set points in the first set and was forced to
save other three in the second.
Displaying an unusual serve-and-volley style throughout the
match, Yayuk ventured forth to the net again and again to put
relentless pressure against her hard serving opponent who beat
her in Pattaya, Thailand two weeks ago.
However, she was quickly troubled against Arndt's passing
shots. Arndt fired 10 aces against Yayuk's three during the game.
She was 5-4 up and led 40-0 for a set point in the first set
before she double faulted and racked up five unforced errors to
concede a break. Arndt shrugged off a 2-5 deficit during the tie
break as she fired her devastating passing shots to snatch the
opening set.
Yayuk broke Arndt's service to open the second set but struck
on a break, before both players fought tooth and nail to save
their games. Both rivals nerves began to break as they registered
a string of unforced errors in the tie-break. Yayuk only had a
shot at a decider when Arndt's volley hit the net.
Yayuk looked to regain her confidence after she produced a
break to take a 4-3 lead in the decider. Arndt, in contrast,
displayed an error-prone play, despite her three successive aces
in the fifth game.
The American volleyed wide three backhand returns from Yayuk
in the last two games, allowing her Indonesian rival to receive a
standing ovation from her mistakes.
"I have to hit various strokes in the semifinal," said Yayuk.
She admitted she would need to improve her backhand when she
faced Yang today. Yayuk lost to her Taiwanese rival twice in 1988
and 1992.
Wang was troubled against Miyagi's two-hand strokes as she
dropped two games in a row in the first set. The second set saw
Miyagi crash to seven double faults, including a string of three
in the seven game, but Wang squandered her 5-3 lead with a broken
service.
The top seed was unchallenged in the decider as she hit all
corners with her thunderous forehands. Miyagi who had ran out of
steam could only save her first game before Wang rack up five
games in a row.
"I thought it was not my day when I lost four games in a row,"
said Wang. "But I changed my style in the second set."
Wang said she was ready to battle against Yayuk whom she said
to have improved from the last time they met two years ago. (amd)