Yayuk leads RI squad to Federation Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Yayuk Basuki leads a team of three which desperately needs a lucky draw to carve out another piece of history at the Federation Cup women's tennis team championship finals in Frankfurt, Germany.

The squad, made up by Yayuk and her talented juniors Romana Tedjakusuma and Natalia Soetrisno, left for the July 18-24 championship yesterday without offering a worth expecting feat to their home fans.

"We dare not predict our chances until we see the draw," non- playing captain Deddy Tedjamukti said in a farewell party with officials of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) on Wednesday.

The team's backbone Yayuk will likely play both singles and doubles, but there is also a great possibility of pairing Romana with her long-time partner Natalia to give Yayuk a break.

Teddy said Yayuk, currently ranked 45th in the world, is in top form which brought her to the fourth round at the All-England tournament in Wimbledon early this month. But Frankfurt's slow clay court may play havoc to the serve-and-volley player.

Yayuk opted to miss the French Open in the last two years, saying that she carried dim record at the clay-court tournament.

Indonesia moved to the second round at last year's meet after beating Poland 2-1, but Yayuk, then world number 38, crashed to unheralded rival whose world rankings was 155 places lower than her.

Defending champion Spain, spearheaded by its world number two Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, will likely top the seeding list in the 32-field championship, the third successive finals held in Frankfurt.

The international tennis federation ITF will impose the home- and-away qualifying rounds as applied in the Davis Cup competitions on the Federation Cup, starting next year. (amd)