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| 27 May 2001 | |
| Italian Junior Open |
Almost a thousand people watched Colombian lefthander Alejandro Falla and Estonian Kaia Kanepi crowned the new Italian Open Junior champions at the end of a great day at the Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossa. Among the crowd was the former Italian Davis Cup player Nicola Pietrangeli, the special guest for the ceremony.
After Thomas Berdich and Bart De Gier took the title in the Boys doubles, the No.1 seed in the Girls main draw once again displayed her all powerful game.
Kanepi shot out of the blocks to race to a one set lead 6-0 in just 20 minutes, allowing her rival only 11 points. In the next set Hungarian Virag Nemeth, the big surprise this week in Milan, fought back to take the first three games in a row and took the set 6-3 to put her back in with a chance in the match. However at 3-2 in the third, Kanepi found her power once again. With immaculate ground strokes from the baseline she won the last twelve points to win 60 36 62 to claim the title on the same clay court where former champions include Gabriela Sabatini (1984), Natasha Zvereva (1987), Anna Kournikova (1995) and Olga Barabanchikova (1996).
Alejandro Falla found the going slightly easier when he found himself up against another lefty Gilles Muller (LUX). Before the final Falla had played just eleven sets, two less then Muller, the No.2 seed, and this seemed to show in his game where he had more energy then his opponent and was also better prepared physically. Despite being 1-2 down in the first set Falla soon found his game and was simply too good for Muller, winning 11 of last 14 games to take the title 64 61. This win, revenge for Falla for the Banana Bowl final where he lost to Muller, is the best result so far for the Orange Bowl U16 champion in 1999.
Falla is the South American champion and has already represented his country twice in Davis Cup. He was first taken to a tennis court by his father Jorge, who also played tennis on the professional circuit. He is the 6th South American to win in Milan, following in the footsteps of Argentineans Franco Davin (1986), Federico Brown (1994), Mariano Zabaleta (1995) and new ATP Tour star Guillermo Coria (1998). Other big names to triumph in Milan include Ivan Lendl (1978), Frenchman Guy Forget (1982), American Jim Courier (1987), Croatian Goran Ivanisevic (1988) and Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1992).
In the Girls Doubles final Petra Cetkovska(CZE) continued her domination of the doubles rankings and prevented Kaia Kanepi from gaining double victory. Cetkovska and partner Matea Mezak (CRO)took advantage of the fact that Kanepi had already played her singles final earlier in the day and won confortably 61 64.
Finals
Boys singles: Falla (Col) d. Muller (Lux) 6-4 6-1
Girls singles: Kanepi (Est) d. Nemeth (Hun) 6-0 3-6 6-2
Boys doubles: Berdich/De Gier (Cze/Ned) d. Melo/Valent (Bra/Sui) 6-3 6-4.
Girls doubles: Mezak/Cetkovska (Cro/Cze) b. Kanepi/Voskoboeva (Est/Rus) 6-1 6-4.
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