Yayuk moves into Acura quarterfinals
MANHATTAN BEACH, California (Agencies): A determined Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia served a notice to women's tennis top flight when she cruised to the quarterfinals of the Acura Classic tournament here with yet another giant-killing fashion on Thursday.
When seeded players cleared their third-round hurdles as the draw expected, Yayuk chalked up the only upset of the day by outlasting ninth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. The Indonesian world number 33 will now meet fourth seed Lindsay Davenport in an anticipated battle.
Davenport earned her quarterfinal berth with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over South African Amanda Coetzer.
Yayuk's remarkable showing should not surprise tennis pundits, since the 24-year-old Indonesian had twice beaten her French rival before Thursday's match. Yayuk sent Tauziat packing in the Australia Open first round in 1993 and the Wimbledon third round last month.
Yayuk, fresh from her successful Federation Cup campaign in Italy, ousted Tauziat on Thursday with much the same style as her Wimbledon victory, producing a superb comeback in the first set to wear out Tauziat's patience in the remaining games.
Top seed Arantxa Vicario Sanchez of Spain was forced to battle her way into the quarterfinals of the US$430,000 tournament by a spirited Sabine Appelmans of Belgium.
Sanchez Vicario, playing her first match of the week after receiving a walkover into the third round, won 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. Appelmans, seeded 16th, survived a break point in the first game of the second set and then earned a break to lead 4-2.
Although Sanchez Vicario had six break points in the next game, Appelmans held onto her lead and continued to take advantage of short balls from the Spaniard.
In the final set, Sanchez Vicario nosed in front to lead 3-1 when Appelmans sent a double-handed backhand long. Another break for 5-1 appeared to sew things up, but the Belgian continued to battle, breaking for 5-2 before conceding her serve and the match in the next game.
In Mason, Ohio, two top seeds Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras both needed three sets to move into the quarterfinals of the $1.8 million ATP Championship but their matches were quite different.
The top-ranked Agassi played a bizarre match that seesawed dramatically before he finished with a 6-0, 0-6, 6-2 third-round victory over 16th-seeded Alberto Berasategui of Spain.
Sampras barely withstood a long, close battle with fellow American and 15th-seeded Todd Martin for a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win.
In the quarterfinals, Agassi faces unseeded Renzo Furlan of Italy and Sampras plays eighth-seeded Michael Stich of Germany.
In other pairings, fourth-seeded and two-time defending champion Michael Chang faces 11th seed Jim Courier and sixth seed Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia plays 13th-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden.
Agassi started off so strong, taking the first set in 24 minutes, that it appeared the 18th-ranked Berasategui, known for his claycourt prowess, might never get on the scoreboard.
But then a strange thing happened.
Agassi couldn't hold his serve in the first game of the second set, double-faulting the final point away.
Berasategui started the next game with new balls which were lighter and faster. The new-ball advantage quickly gave the Spaniard a 2-0 advantage and in 18-minutes a 6-0 second set win.