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| 13 Oct 2002 | |
| Fuda and Balazs take Osaka Mayor's Cup titles |
The nine-year drought since a Japanese girl won Japan’s
premier junior competition came to an end today after Ryoko Fuda lifted the
Osaka Mayor’s Cup.
The battle of the 15 year-olds could not have been
tighter. Fuda took the first set but
was unable to close out the match after top seed, Lucie Safarova, fought back
to take the second. With both girls
playing at the top of their game in the third, only a tiebreak could separate
them. It took twelve nail-biting points
before the home crowd could rise to their feet to applaud the tremendous effort
put in by Fuda as she clinched victory 64 46 76(5).
The boys’ singles final turned into another 3 set epic to
thrill the crowd. The battle between
the no. 3 seed Gyorgy Balazs (HUN) and no. 4 seed Go Soeda (JPN) also went down
to the wire. Balazs, still revelling in
his defeat of defending champion and top seed Marcos Baghdatis yesterday,
stormed through the first set, losing just two games. Soeda, however, was able to settle his nerves in the second and
levelled the match at a set all. The
third set could have gone either way but it was Balazs who held on, taking the
title 62 16 75.
Photographs by Hiromasa Mano
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