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| 25 Jan 2002 | |
| Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Go, Go, Go. |
By Eleanor Preston
Todd Reid continued his blistering progress through the boys draw at the junior Australian Open yesterday, clinching a place in the semi-finals of his home Grand Slam with a 64 64 win over his fellow Aussie Raphael Durek. Reid, who is seeded 10th, now faces France’s rising star Richard Gasquet for a place in his first junior Grand Slam final. Reid hails from Sydney but seems quite at home on the Rebound Ace courts of Melbourne Park, where he is enjoying his best ever junior Grand Slam performance. Prior to this week his best result in a major tournament was reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in July 2001, and he hasn’t won a junior title since taking the Victorian Junior Championships this time last year.
Reid would dearly love to win another trophy on Australian soil by taking the honours here on Sunday. Reid may feel outnumbered given that he is the only non-Frenchman of the four semi-finalists. Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Clement Morel will all be flying the French tricolour in the last four after clinching wins on Friday.
Gasquet cruised past World No.5 Lamine Ouahab 63 62; while Tsonga was made to fight all the way by Israel’s Dudi Sela, coming from a set down to beat Sela 26 76(4) 75 in a gutsy performance. Morel, who meets Tsonga for a place in the final, made it three Frenchmen in a row when his opponent Philipp Petzchner retired at 4-2 down in the second set after Morel had won the first on a tiebreaker. Petzschner was suffering from an injured right shoulder.
In the girls’ event Su-Wie Hsieh from Tapei put in another impressive performance, beating World No.1 Svetlana Kuznetsova 64 75. Hsieh will face unseeded Russian wonderkid Maria Sharapova in the last four. The fourteen-year-old downed Elke Clijsters 63 64. Sixth seed Eva Birnerova looked in confident form as she wrapped up a 63 61 victory over America’s Sunitha Rao and will be up against Barbora Strycova in an all Czech semi-final. Strycova needed all three sets to squeak past Russia’s Vera Douchevina 62 26 64.
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