Yayuk Basuki rejoins world top 30

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's tennis queen Yayuk Basuki shot to number 25 from 33 on the latest singles rankings issued by the Women's Tennis Association prior to the U.S. Open championships in New York.

It was Yayuk's second highest career ranking as she came closer to joining the world's top 20 at number 21 early this year.

As of Aug. 26, Yayuk has played 29 matches and won 19 of them. She produced a seven-place leap following a series of giant wins she chalked up in the past month.

Her notable scalps include victories over American world number nine Lindsay Davenport and number 13 Nathalie Tauziat of France on her way to the Acura Classic semifinals in Manhattan Beach. She also made her fourth successive appearance in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Despite the formidable performance, Yayuk has spent more than half of the season without any title. She reached her only two semifinals at the Indonesia Open and the Acura Classic.

Yayuk is now more than 300 places clear of her closest national contender Romana Tedjakusuma who is only 355th.

WTA put German Steffi Graf atop of the list, followed by returning Monica Seles of the U.S. Seles, who won her first title after a two-year lay off at the Canadian Open, pushed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain to third.

Yayuk is facing a tough first rounder at the U.S. Open against German world number 10 Anke Huber. The two players have met three times, with Huber leading 2-1 after her victory in the Australian Open in January.

Yayuk carries an unsound record at the U.S. Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the season. She flopped in the first hurdle in her two previous appearances at the Flushing Meadow tennis center. She last crashed to minnow Mariaan de Swardt of South Africa in straight sets 3-6, 4-6. (amd)