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.