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| 12 Dec 2002 | |
| Ouahab plans big finish to junior career with a strong showing at the Burger King Orange Bowl |
Lamine Ouahab is looking forward to playing fulltime on the professional tour next year but he doesn’t want his junior career to end just yet. Not until he finishes strong at the 2002 Burger King Orange Bowl International Championships.
The No. 2 seed converted on his third match point opportunity and held off American Jarrett Chirico, 6-1 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinals where he will face Kamil Capkovic on Friday.
“He (Chirico) likes when you attack him so its really hard to wait and move the ball around and create the angles until you can come up with a really big shot,” said Ouahab, who lost in the third round here last year. “I’m in the tournament now.”
Unlike his junior peers, Ouahab did not play in the inaugural USTA International Winter Championships here last week. Instead, he was in Jamaica where he qualified for the main draw of a Futures event with two match wins and lost in the first round of the main draw.
“I’ve been playing well,” he added. “Everyone is really tired at this moment, so whoever is tougher mentally and physically is going to pull through. I really need a break but I believe I need one more tournament and then I can go home. I need to do good here and finish the year strong before I go home to enjoy the holidays.”
After finishing runner-up to Todd Reid in the Wimbledon boys’ final, Ouahab went home to Algeria for two weeks of rest. He then rejoined the tennis circuit and has not been home since.
Ouahab will start the new year training in Barcelona for a few weeks before playing some Futures events in France in preparation for his debut at home in Davis Cup play.
”It’s another big moment for me,” said Ouahab, who went 5-0 for Algeria in the 2002 Davis Cup Euro/African Zone Four round robin in Kenya. “This year I’m going to play in my country. I really want to get prepared and play my best.”
Currently ranked No. 688 in the ATP Entry System, Ouahab is already the No. 1 Algerian. He is currently the No. 7 junior in the world with six singles titles on his resume. He’d like to start the holidays with an early present and the Orange Bowl crown, which comes with a wild card into the qualifying rounds at the NASDAQ-100 Open, also held at Key Biscayne.
Either way, Ouahab is looking forward to 2003.
“It’s going to be an interesting year,” he said. “No more juniors. It’s big time.”
In the girls’ 18s, Americans Carly Gullickson and Ally Baker advanced to the quarterfinals with impressive wins. Gullickson defeated Micaela Moran of Argentina, 7-6 (6), 6-0, and will face No. 1 seed Vera Douchevina of Russia. Douchevina, the reigning Wimbledon girls’ singles champion, defeated reigning Junior Orange Bowl girls’ 14s champion Shahar Peer, 6-4, 6-2, in the third round.
Ally Baker, a native of Raleigh, N.C. who now lives in Key Biscayne and trains at the USA Tennis High Performance facility, upset No. 7 seed Katerina Bohmova of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-3, in the only third-round match to pit seeded players against each other.
“She’s very deceptive. She is a very good player and a good fighter,” said Baker, the No. 10 seed who will face No. 3 Jarmila Gajdosova of the Slovak Republic in the quarterfinals. “(Bohmova) is a really smart player, so you can’t really beat her bad. She’s always figuring out something to do to stay in the match.”
The host nation was less successful in the boys’ 18s as all three Americans playing Wednesday fell in the third round. Two players lost to higher-ranked opponents, but No. 5 seed Chris Kwon was upset by No. 10 Andrian Ungur of Latvia, 6-2, 6-2.
"I didn't play bad. He came out firing and didn't hold back,” said Kwon. “That's the kind of player he is. He has some big wins because he plays all out, but he also has losses to lower ranked players. It all depends on if he's on or not. Today he was on."
Jarrett Chirico of Bradenton fell to No. 2 seed Lamine Ouahab of Algeria, 6-1, 7-5 and No. 11 Kamil Capkovic of the Slovak Republic ousted Glendale, Calif.’s, Robert Yim in straight sets.
Thursday’s schedule features the third round singles matches in the top half of the boys’ 16s and 18s draws, the bottom half of the girls’ 18s draw and the entire girls’ 16s draw.
The U.S. is assured of one quarterfinalist in the boys’ 18s. No. 3 seed Brian Baker of Nashville, Tenn., will face Sukhwa Young of Wesley Chapel for a berth in the final eight.
Photographs by Susan Mullane
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