Uzbek gold

Tulyaganova beats Tanasugarn for Asian title

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) -- Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan beat top-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-1, 6-3 Friday for the gold medal in Asian Games women's tennis.

Thailand's gold hopes were kept alive on the men's side after top-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan advanced to the men's singles final, defeating Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal.

Paradorn's powerful baseline game and aces kept fourth-seed Ogorodov on the back foot throughout the match.

"I really pushed myself, trying to finish it quickly," said Paradorn.

The world No. 28, Paradorn will meet South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik in the final Saturday. Lee, the second seed, defeated Takao Suzuki of Japan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, in the first semifinal earlier Friday.

"It will be fun for the crowd to watch No. 1 and No. 2 Asian men," Paradorn said. "I feel I will win again tomorrow."

The men's doubles gold was won by the former world No. 1 Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, who defeated South Korea's Chung Hee-seok and Lee Hyung-taik 6-2, 6-3.

Bhupathi tried for a second gold in mixed doubles, but he and Manisha Malhotra lost 4-6, 6-3, 9-7 to Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun and Janet Lee.

Tamarine looked sluggish at the start and lost her first service game. She came as close as 3-4 in the second set but couldn't overcome the more powerful returns and strong serves by Tulyaganova, seeded second and ranked No. 40 in the world.

The Uzbekistan player finished the match by hitting a forehand serve return down the line and charging in to put away a volley.

"It was quite easy, my weapon is my serve," said Tulyaganova. "Tammy is a very good player but I didn't give her chance to play. I knew I was supposed to make her move."

"It was one of my best victories because it was for my country, not for myself."

Tulyaganova, 20, gained attention earlier this year when she played with Martina Navratilova in doubles at the U.S. Open, where they lost in the third round. Tulyaganova was born the year Navratilova started a string of six straight championships at Wimbledon.

Tulyaganova said Navratilova has given her a few tips on her singles game. The two plan to play doubles together for the rest of the year.

"She is still a good player," said Tulyaganova, who suffered from a string of injuries this year including a sprained thigh muscle and painful right knee.

Tamarine, ranked 27th, also won silver at the last Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998. "She served unbelievably, she deserved it," Tamarine said.

Bronze medals went to losing semifinalists Shinobu Asagoe of Japan and Cho Yeon-jeong of South Korea.

In the men's semifinal, Lee won the first set when Suzuki, serving at 4-5, double faulted twice and sent a lob out on set point. In the deciding set, the two players traded early breaks for 2-2 but then Lee, 84th in the ATP rankings, dominated play after that.

Suzuki, world No. 129, saved two match points with Lee serving at 5-3 but then lobbed a return out on match point.

Suzuki said his serves cost him the match. "They were not good enough to beat Lee. He played much better and he is a fighter. But the turning point was my serve," he said.

"I didn't have enough aces, not enough serve points," he added.

Suzuki said he has six weeks of tennis ahead beginning with the Grand Prix in Stockholm.

 

Related information

Stories

Asian Games: Uzbekistan, India win tennis golds

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video