Yayuk Basuki might carve out history at Wimbledon
Yayuk Basuki might carve out history at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England (Agencies): Indonesian tennis queen Yayuk
Basuki might carve out a piece of history with a place in the
quarterfinals of the Wimbledon tennis championships today.
Playing on grass, which is her favorite surface, world number
45 Yayuk faces a tough hurdle on the road to her dreams of
winning the last eight round for the first time ever in the form
of Gigi Fernandez, the American world's number one doubles
player.
Today's match against Fernandez will be Yayuk's third
successive fourth round appearance in her four visits at
Wimbledon. For the past two years Yayuk made tennis history by
becoming one of only two Asian women, along with Japanese Naoko
Sawamatsu, to reach the last 16 of the tournament.
The 24-year-old Indonesian didn't break a sweat as she used
her powerful serve and volley to score a 6-0, 6-2 victory in the
one-sided match against American Ann Grossman, an opponent she
had already beaten twice, on Saturday. While, Fernandez came back
to defeat stubborn Mana Endo of Japan in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-
3.
Saturday marked a glorious day for Yayuk when she formed a
winning team with Japanese Nana Miyagi. They earned a 6-3, 6-3
win over the mixed nationality pair of Australian Michelle
Jaggard-Lai and American Marianne Werdel to advance to the third
round.
People's favorites Martina Navratilova and Andre Agassi can
heave a sigh of relief on surviving the first week of the grand
slam tournament which was littered with the debris of 15 fallen
seeds.
Navratilova, at 37 seeking her 10th singles title here, has
had an easy ride, dropping only 12 games in the first three
rounds.
Agassi, the straggly-haired 1992 champion, has suffered more,
scraping through a five-set second-round thriller with Venezuelan
Nicolas Pereira.
Fourth seed Navratilova, who after 22 years has finally
overcome crowd hostility to take her place as sentimental
favorite, says playing Wimbledon gets no easier on the nerves.
"It gets worse," she said after her 6-3, 6-2 drubbing of
third-round opponent Linda Harvey-Wild on Saturday.
"It's not something you get used to and say "Oh piece of
cake'."
Navratilova, who plays big-serving Czech Helena Sukova in the
fourth round today, receives a standing ovation every time she
appears on her beloved Center Court.
Men's singles
Agassi too likes the baseline but also has the speed around
the court and the variety of shots to unnerve any opponent and
delight the crowd.
The 24-year-old 12th seed, whose appearances are accompanied
by squeals of delight from pre-pubescent girls, wiggles his
bottom, bares his torso and blows kisses to the fans, ensuring a
near-hysterical reception.
Today he meets the dour speed-server Todd Martin in a clash of
styles. Martin, seeded sixth and 1.98-meter tall relies on his
serve, Agassi on improvisation.
Despite the upsets of the past few days, with second seed
Michael Stich and third seed Stefan Edberg bundled out of the
tournament, few would bet against world number one Pete Sampras
successfully defending his title.
"I'm confident but you can't take anything for granted,"
Sampras said on Saturday. "There are still the Agassis and the
Beckers and Ivanisevic out there."
Boris Becker, seeded seventh, was the last man to win
Wimbledon twice in a row in 1985 and 1986. Goran Ivanisevic, the
volatile Croat with a blistering serve, was runner-up in 1992.