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| 07 Dec 2001 | |
| ITF World Junior Champion titles will be decided at the Burger King Orange Bowl |
One of the highlights of the junior calendar, the BURGER KING Orange Bowl, will take place at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, Florida from 9-16 December. Entries include Australian Junior Open champions Janko Tipsarevic and Jelena Jankovic from Yugoslavia and US Junior Open champions Gilles Muller from Luxembourg and France’s Marion Bartoli.
With the year-end top rankings still to be decided, competition will be extremely tight at Crandon Park, making for a thrilling finale to the junior season. In the boys’ singles, Muller and Tipsarevic will be battling it out for the title of ITF World Champion and year-end No. 1. The US Open champion is the world No. 1 but currently shares the same number of ranking points as Tipsarevic. However, if both reach the semi-finals, whoever progresses the furthest from there will claim the title. If both should lose in the early rounds and remain on equal points, Muller will become World Champion as he has won more points in Group A tournaments.
In the girls’ competition, Czech Republic’s Eva Birnerova heads the singles rankings and has a 70 point advantage over Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova who lies third. Second-placed Kaia Kanepi, Roland Garros champion, is not competing in the Orange Bowl, leaving the way open for Kuznetsova and perhaps even for Bartoli, who is fourth-ranked, to do well. Kuznetsova needs to reach the final to gain the title, unless the Russian team win the ITF Connolly Continental Cup, in which case a semi-final showing would be good enough, if not bettered by Birnerova. Bartoli, winner of the U16 Orange Bowl title in 2000, would need to take a step up and win the U18 Orange Bowl title to be in with a shot at becoming ITF World Junior Champion. However, this on it’s own would not be enough, she would still need Birnerova and possibly Kuznetsova to lose before the final.
Therefore with the outcome riding not only on the Orange Bowl, but also the Connolly Continental Cup, an exciting end to the year is guaranteed.
The Orange Bowl features singles and doubles competition for boys and girls aged 18 and under and 16 and under. In addition to the traditional trophy filled with oranges, the boys’ and girls’ 18 singles champions receive a wild card entry into the qualifying round of the Ericsson Open, also held at Crandon Park.
One of the most high profile events on the junior circuit, the Orange Bowl has an illustrious roll of honour with past champions including John McEnroe (1976), Ivan Lendl (1977), Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Jim Courier (1987), Elena Dementieva (1998), Roger Federer (1998) and Andy Roddick (1999).
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