Wang set for second straight win in Indonesia

Wang set for second straight win in Indonesia

SURABAYA, East Java (Agencies): Defending champion Wang Shi- Ting and fourth seeded Nana Miyagi both scored straight set victories to reach the final of the US$107,500 Wismilak International here yesterday.

Taiwanese Wang, seeded No.2, almost let a lead slip away for the third time this week, but rallied to a 6-2, 6-4 win over the unseeded Yuka Yoshida of Japan, while Miyagi, also of Japan, reached the first major final of her career by beating unseeded Adriana Gersi of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.

Wang used her backhand slice to force errors from her more adventurous but lightweight opponent. She also hit the ball deep to the baseline in an effort to keep Yoshida from moving in to strike a volley, but was not always successful.

But although she was tenacious and often got to the net, Yoshida put little power into her shots and Wang was rarely threatened. But neither did Wang take charge of the match at any stage.

Having let leads slip away in her last two matches, Wang struggled to close out the match after she went ahead 5-3. Yoshida saved two match points, one with a weak return that became an unintended drop shot, and then broke for the only time in the match.

But instead of panicking, Wang responded by striking a fine pass to set up her third match point, and then forced a forehand error.

"She had nothing to lose at the end and tried to be more aggressive," said Wang. "But I was more aggressive than she was and she also made a lot of easy mistakes in the 1st set," said Wang, of Taiwan.

Miyagi was stretched during the first set as both players tried to sneak a lead in several close games that produced no less than 22 deuces.

In another WTA Tour tournament in Filderstadt, Germany, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain led the exodus as the top three seeds crashed out of the quarterfinals on Friday.

Sanchez Vicario, knocked out of the Leipzig tournament a week ago by unseeded Czech Helena Sukova, succumbed 6-1, 6-4 in just over an hour to the 16-year-old Swiss teenager Martina Hingis, seeded eighth.

Sanchez Vicario's compatriot and number two seed Conchita Martinez fared no better, going down 6-1, 6-3 to fifth seed 21- year-old German Anke Huber, who won the Leipzig tournament last week.

Unseeded Austrian Judith Wiesner caused the third upset of the day, beating Croat Iva Majoli 6-4, 7-5, while American fourth seed Lindsay Davenport overcame sixth seed Czech Jana Novotna 6- 3, 6-4.

ATP Tour

Meanwhile in Beijing, Britain's unseeded Greg Rusedski hammered 10 aces yesterday to dismiss fourth seed Byron Black of Zimbabwe 6-2, 6-2 for a place in the final of today's $328,000 Beijing Open.

World No. 75 Rusedski, playing in his fourth semifinal of the year on the ATP Tour, spent just under one hour on the fast hardcourt as he continued his momentum during one of the best weeks of a modest tennis year.

The Canadian-born lefthander will today take on Martin Damm for the title and $43,000 in prize money.

Czech Damm, the conqueror of top seed Michael Chang on Thursday, came back in the third set, breaking temperamental Swede Thomas Johansson for 4-2 and moving on for a 7-6 (7-5), 3- 6, 6-3 win.

Rusedski put his huge serve to work immediately as he won the opening set in under half an hour over the only seeded player left in the main draw at the National Olympic Sports Center.

The Briton broke Black in the sixth and eighth games, producing love games on his first two times on serve and losing only two points on serve overall.

The seed saved three set points, but Rusedski won it on his fourth chance from Black's return long.

In the second set, Rusedski consolidated his lead, breaking for 2-0 and racing to a 5-2 margin.

But the man who cracked an unofficial Tour-record serve of 225 kph on Friday faltered while serving for victory, losing the game on a wide return.

In Vienna, American Todd Martin ended Goran Ivanisevic's hopes at the $800,000 CA Trophy on Friday when he beat the second- seeded Croatian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the semifinals, Martin will meet fifth-seeded Boris Becker, who despite a recurring wrist injury knocked out Switzerland's Marc Rosset 7-6, 7-5.

The other semifinal on the indoor hardcourt will be contested by Frenchman Arnaud Boetsch and Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands.

Siemerink eliminated sentimental favorite Stefan Edberg 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 to deny the 30-year-old Swede a chance of winning one more title before his retirement at the end of the year.