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)