Yayuk Basuki succumbs to top seed Martinez in Tokyo
Yayuk Basuki succumbs to top seed Martinez in Tokyo
TOKYO (Agencies): Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia produced a superb second-set comeback but it was not enough to stop Spain's Conchita Martinez from reaching the quarterfinals at the US$806,250 Pan Pacific Open women's tennis championships yesterday.
It took top seed Martinez almost two hours to sandwich Yayuk 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 for an intriguing rematch against local favorite Kimiko Date today.
Unseeded Yayuk, ranked 27th in the world, broke Martinez's service in the first game and served well to take the second set 7-5 with a service winner. But Martinez easily took the final set with a stunning powerful serve.
Yayuk skipped the tournament last year for her wedding with her former teammate in the national team, Suharyadi.
"It was very hard to concentrate on play next to the other court where a match is going on. "But it was good that I played very aggressive in the final set. It's a quite easy," said Martinez. The Spaniard world number three extended her winning streak over Yayuk to 3-0.
In a contrasting style, Australian Open champion Mary Pierce scored a straight sets win to secure her quarterfinal berth. Pierce, who claimed her first-ever Grand Slam title last month, took just one hour to dispose of Japanese wildcard Kyoko Nagatsuka 6-4, 6-0.
"I wasn't playing badly in the first set, it just took me a little time to get motivation and get concentration," said the second seeded French woman.
"I served really well today and I stayed aggressive," the Canada-born Pierce said. The second seed takes on seventh seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria today.
Maleeva won her second round match with a walkover by Israeli Anna Smashnova, who defaulted after straining a thigh.
Japan's unseeded Naoko Sawamatsu, currently ranked 17th after reaching last eight at the Australian Open, produced the day's only upset when she outplayed fourth seed Natasha Zvereva 1-6, 6- 3, 6-3.
American third seed Lindsey Davenport had no trouble beating Japan's Mana Endo 6-2, 6-1 in a short 41 minutes.
The world number six's quarterfinal opponent will be Germany's Anke Huber, who posted a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win over American Lori McNeil.