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)