|
|
| 03 Jun 2002 | |
| Top Seed, Soderling, breezes through |
By Eleanor Preston
Australia’s Todd Reid was the biggest casualty on day two of the junior competition at Roland Garros. Despite being seeded eighth, the Australian Open runner-up is not at his best on clay and France’s Mathieu Montcourt made the most of his opportunity, beating Reid 6-1 7-6(1).
There were no such problems for top seed Robin Soderling. The Swede enjoyed a confidence boosting 6-3 6-1 win over America’s Brendan Evans, although afterwards he admitted it hadn’t all been plain sailing. "I didn’t start that well but I got through that, and I’m really happy with the way I played the second set," said Soderling. "It could have been a difficult first round match. Brendan is a really good player."
Soderling is Sweden’s brightest young hope and has benefited from the advice of senior Swedish players like Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, Jonas Bjorkman and Magnus Norman. He travelled to Great Britain with the Swedish Davis Cup team in February and often practises with the team members. "Whenever I have a week practising with people like Thomas, Jonas and Magnus I always feel like I play a lot better afterwards. It’s great to be around them."
Richard Gasquet continued his devastating form, beating Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 6-2 6-2 to set up a third round clash against Briton Alex Bogdanovic. "I’ve already played him six or seven times and there are wins on each side," said Gasquet. "He has a very good game and it’s not going to be an easy match."
Bogdanovic fulfilled his side of the bargain by beating Jordan Kanev (BUL) 6-2 7-5. Bogdanovic was always on top and was only briefly distracted when the heavens opened just as he had a match point at 6-2, 5-4 in the second set. "I had a match point and I didn’t take it, then it suddenly starting raining pretty hard," explained Bogdanovic. "I wasn’t sure if we were going to carry on so I needed an extra bit of concentration there."
Bogdanovic says he is looking forward to playing Gasquet. "He’s a great player and he’s playing really well. If I play well I’ve got a good chance but he doesn’t give much away. I know this is a great surface for him so it’s going to be really good to see where I’m at. I’ve got nothing to lose."
Girls’ Australian Open finalist Maria Sharapova notched up her first win at Roland Garros. The 15-year-old Russian wasted little time in disposing of Marcela Arroyo (MEX) 6-0 6-2, although afterwards she admitted that she is recovering from a bout of food poisoning and is still feeling below par. "I was sick two days ago and I only started playing yesterday," said Sharapova. "I feel okay but I still feel like I have no energy."
The biggest upset of the day in the girls’ competition was Vera Douchevina’s 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over third seed Su-Wei Hsieh. The eight and Ninth seeds also made early exits; Gisela Dulko (ARG) lost to Marta Domachowska (POL) 6-3 6-4 and, Silvana Bauer (NED) went down 63 16 62 to Ana Ivanovic.Photographs by Susan Mullane
>
^ Back to Top
|
