Yayuk Basuki to fight friend in Indonesia Open
Yayuk Basuki to fight friend in Indonesia Open
JAKARTA (JP): A close friendship is sure to turn into to hard- fought rivalry for Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki and her Japanese doubles partner Nana Miyagi in the Indonesia Women's Open tennis championships quarterfinals today.
Second seed Yayuk bombarded Ei Iida of Japan with powerful serves to earn a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win in yesterday's third round match, which lasted only 50 minutes. Earlier yesterday, seventh seed Miyagi was forced to drop a set in her 6-1, 0-6, 6-1 victory over Claudia Porwik of Germany.
"I will battle it out, no matter how close our off-court relationship is," Yayuk said after her match. "It's a rare challenge of mine, since I know her two-hand backhand is very dangerous," Yayuk said of her partner.
Yayuk struggled to beat Miyagi 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in their first encounter at the Suntory Open tournament in 1991, several months before they decided to form a doubles team.
"Both of us know each other well. Nana often beats me in our practices," Yayuk said.
The mixed nationality pair have so far collected two titles and notched their Grand Slam career high achievement by reaching the U.S. Open semifinal in 1993. They are now seeded first in the doubles event of the US$161,000 tournament.
Yesterday Yayuk played a far different game from her exhibition against former world number one Martina Navratilova on Wednesday night.
"I had nothing to lose in the exhibition, since my target is winning this tournament," Yayuk said.
The Indonesian, who is originally a baseliner, displayed a superb serve and volley combination to race to a commanding 5-2 lead over lucky loser Iida.
Serving for a win, however, Yayuk was frustrated by Iida's long forehands and lobs, which cost the Indonesian her first broken serve. But Yayuk bounced back with her characteristic forehand to pin Iida to her baseline to seal the set.
Yayuk was unchallenged in the next stage, forcing Iida to tally unnecessary mistakes. The Japanese, who upset Indonesia's number two Romana Tedjakusuma in Tuesday's second round, saved her only game, before Yayuk hammered home blasting serves to wrap up the match.
Miyagi lost her grip in the second set, double faulting five times and producing a string of unforced errors. She added four more double faults in the decider, but Porwik was too slow to match Miyagi's smart ball placing.
German top seed Sabine Hack also enjoyed a comfortable third round win yesterday. Playing a serve and volley game, Hack edged out Julie Steven of the U.S. 6-3, 6-3. The German will now meet Jana Nejedly of Canada, who strolled to a 6-1, 6-4 giant-killing win over 13th seed Karin Kschwendt of Germany.
Nejedly sprang a surprise on Tuesday when she toppled another German, Elena Wagner, who is seeded eighth in the 64-field competition.(amd)