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| 08 Jul 2001 | |
| Valent and Widjaja take Singles titles |
By Eleanor Preston
Roman Valent and Angelique Widjaja are celebrating tonight after winning the Wimbledon Boys and Girls’ singles titles respectively.
It was a double celebration for Roman, who turned eighteen on the day of the final. He took the Boys’ title with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Luxembourg Gilles Muller. Neither had been in a Grand Slam final before and both began nervously, but it was Muller who took his chances in the first set. He looked the more likely winner mid-way through the second set when the heavens opened at stopped play for half an hour. "I don’t think the rain was a big plus for either of us," said Roman, but he certainly looked far more confident after his spell in the locker room. He returned to Court No.2 and began to force Muller into errors. He broke Muller’s serve to take the second set 7-5 and kept up his wave of confidence in the decider.
"Every tennis player dreams to win such a tournament," said Roman. "I feel relieved, satisfied, I feel everything together right now." Roman, who is from Switzerland, revealed that he has been working with Melanie Molitor, Martina Hingis’ mother and his coach, Pavel Daron, regularly hits with Hingis. The Swiss Miss is World No.1 and has won five Grand Slam titles at senior level and it seems some of her magic has rubbed off on Roman.
In the Girls’ final, Angelique came through a thrilling match against Dinara Safina, winning 6-4, 0-6, 7-5. The 16-year-old is the first ever Grand Slam winner from Indonesia and said she was proud and excited to make history for her country. "I’m very happy," she said. "This is a first for me and a first for my country. My family will be very happy and so will the tennis association. Indonesia is very happy."
Angelique won a close first set before losing concentration in the second set as Safina’s power became too much. "She played very well and my serve was no good. I played only defence." she admitted. Like the boys, the girls were delayed by rain and Angelique admitted that the break gave her time to think. "In the third I tried to play a little like I did in the first set, I say to myself that I need to be more aggressive."
Angelique says her dream is now to return to Wimbledon to win the Women’s title, and she believes that her win in the juniors is the first step. "I want to be Top 10 in the world," she said, "I want this to be the best start to my future in tennis."
The Boys Doubles title was won by Ecuadorian Giovanni Lapentti and Canadian Frank Dancevic who overpowered the top doubles team of Bruno Echagaray and Santiago Gonzalez from Mexico 61 64
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