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| 16 Dec 2001 | |
| Zvonareva, Soderling Capture BURGER KING Orange Bowl Singles Titles |
Sweden’s Robin Soderling and Russia’s Vera Zvonareva captured the boys’ and girls’ 18-and-under singles titles, respectively, at the 55th Annual BURGER KING Orange Bowl International Junior Tennis Championships at Key Biscayne’s Tennis Center at Crandon Park Sunday afternoon.
Both champions were awarded a wild card into the qualifying rounds of the 2002 Ericsson Open, a combined ATP Tour and Sanex WTA Tour event, held at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, March 20-31.
Zvonareva, 17, became the first player in 26 years to successfully defend the Orange Bowl singles title when she outlasted world No. 1 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-7 (2), 6-4. 6-3.
"It was a tough week for me," said Zvonareva, who was extended to three sets in three of her last four matches and blew a 5-2 lead in the first set. "I told myself in the second set if I keep playing this way, I’ll loose the match. I had to get more active."
Zvonareva was 0-2 against Kuznetsova before today. Both losses were at ITF Women’s Professional Circuit events. The two players were roommates last week while leading Russia to the ITF Connolly Continental Cup title. It was the second all-Russian Orange Bowl Girls’ 18s singles final in four years and fifth time in eight years that at least one Russian was in the final.
Russians in the Orange Bowl Girls’ 18s Final
Year
2001
Vera Zvonareva
def.
Svetlana Kuznetsova
6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3
2000
Vera Zvonareva
def.
Edina Gallovit, Romania
7-6 (4), 6-1
1998
Elena Dementieva
def.
Nadejda Petrova
3-6, 6-4, 6-0
1995
Anna Kournikova
def.
Sandra Nauck, Yugoslavia
6-3, 6-2
1994
Anna Kournikova
lost to
Mariann Ramon, Spain
7-5, 6-4
Seeded fifth, Soderling defeated unseeded Juan Monaco of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4, in the boys’ final to win the title without yielding a set in six matches. He improved to 2-0 against Monaco, having also posted a straight-sets victory at a 16-and-under event in Milan last summer.
"He was serving bombs today," said Monaco, who was making his debut on the International Tennis Federation’s World Junior Ranking Circuit. "He made it difficult for me with his ground strokes, too. He hits so deep."
The 6-foot-1 Soderling overpowered Monaco to win his seventh ITF singles title. Less than two months ago, Soderling won his first match on the ATP Tour, defeating Ramon Delgado at the Stockholm Open before losing to countryman Thomas Enqvist. Soderling is currently No. 444 on the ATP Entry System. Monaco is No. 785.
Kent Carlsson was the last Swedish player to win the Orange Bowl Boys’ 18s singles titles in 1983. He defeated Emilio Sanchez, the older brother of four-time Grand Slam singles winner Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, in the final. Both of this year’s singles finalists, Monaco and Kuznetsova, train at Emilio Sanchez’s tennis academy in Barcelona.
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