Vasek, Haarhuis race for 1st singles title

Vasek, Haarhuis race for 1st singles title

JAKARTA (JP): Czech Radomir Vasek stormed to an upset victory
over Ronald Agenor of Haiti yesterday to set up a final showdown
against second seed Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands in the
US$300,000 Indonesia Men's Open tennis championships.

Both Vasek and Haarhuis are seeking their first career singles
title today, but they avoided making pre-match boasts of winning
the top cash prize of $43,000.

"It's going to be a different match tomorrow," Haarhuis said
after his hard-earned 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Kenneth Carlsen
of Denmark. "I've never met Vasek and it should be a tough
match."

Vasek struggled to overcome his serving problem on course to a
come-from-behind 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win over the Haitian
world number 89.

The Czech, currently ranked 132 in the ATP computer, looked
set to end his Jakarta campaign as Agenor broke his serve for a
comfortable 4-2 lead in the second set.

Agenor, who clearly received the most jeers from 300
spectators at the 3,000-seat Senayan indoor tennis stadium due to
his funny gestures on court, tallied a massive number of unforced
errors.

The morale-boosting break put Vasek back into contention,
slowing down the pace, while waiting for Agenor to hit a number
of mistakes. The patience paid off when Agenor, trilling 4-5,
slumped into another break, following a wide backhand slice.

In the deciding set, Vasek made amends for his disastrous
serves with superb approaches when he took the fourth game for a
3-1 lead. The Czech, however, weakened with three double faults
in the next game.

It looked like a doomed day for Agenor as he misfired lots of
his forehand and backhand slices. Vasek, on the other hand,
played safe tennis with numerous short stop balls to set Agenor
running before blasting his powerful ground strokes.

Vasek quickly raced to a 5-2 lead after Agenor struck long
backhand slices twice. Holding his serve, the fans' favorite
saved two match points, when nervous Vasek hit his lobs too long
for a deuce.

Agenor's comeback proved short-lived as Vasek tamed him with a
tricky stop ball. Vasek went on putting on pressure, unleashing
his cross court strokes before sealing the match with a brilliant
forehand winner.

"It's a surprising win," said Vasek who admitted losing too
much energy after his three-set quarterfinal victory on Friday.
"I need to improve my serving technique for the final," he said.

Slow-starter Haarhuis was troubled against Carlsen's big
serves when he easily handed the first set to the Dane. Carlsen
belted 10 aces but drilled six double faults during the marathon
semifinal.

Haarhuis got back his confidence after breaking Carlsen's
serve in the sixth game of the second set. Armed with his
powerful two-handed backhand, cool-headed Haarhuis marched on
with another break in the deciding set for a 4-3 lead.

Carlsen slammed double aces but his aggressive play soon
disintegrated into carelessness with two crucial double faults.
(arf/amd)