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| 09 Dec 2002 | |
| Girl Power Strikes at Day One of Burger King Orange Bowl |
Girl power was evident on the first day of the 55th Annual Burger King Orange Bowl International Championships at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, home of the Nasdaq-100 Open, in Key Biscayne, Fla..
The Orange Bowl girls’ 18s finalists from last year have graduated to the pro tour with junior eligibility to spare and the 2001 Orange Bowl 16’s champion and both finalists from the girls’ 14s at the Junior Orange Bowl competed Sunday in the girls’ 18s.
Vera Zvonareva became the first person to win consecutive Orange Bowl 18s titles (boys’ or girls’) since 1975 when she outlasted eventual ITF World Junior Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final last year. In 2002, Zvonareva and Kuznetsova both ended their rookie year on the WTA Tour ranked among the top 50 players in the world.
Shahar Peer defeated Jenni-Lee Heinser in the girls’ 14s singles final at the 2001 Junior Orange Bowl. The two fifteen-year-olds are now ranked in the Top 100 of the ITF World Junior Rankings and both won their debuts in the Orange Bowl girls’ 18s. Peer defeated Tatjana Malek, 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 16 Beier Ko in the second round. Heinser, a Miami native, defeated Russian qualifier Katia Afinogenova, 6-3, 6-2, and will face No. 8 seed Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
Houston’s Whitney Deason, who swept the girls 16s singles and doubles titles here last year, fell in the first round of the girls’ 18s to Marina Tavares, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The 2002 Orange Bowl began with few surprises in matches with seeded players and a strong showing by “lucky losers”. Twenty-one of the 32 seeded players in the boys’ and girls’ 18s were in action on the opening day.
No. 6 Ana Ivanovic of Yugoslavia was the highest of the three seeded players who lost their first round match, falling to Liana Balaci of Romania 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3. American Carly Gullickson ousted No. 9 Marianna Correa of Ecuador, 6-3, 6-2 while No. 12 Guillermo Hormazabal of Chile fell to Korean Euisik Jung, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the boys’ event.
Seeded fourth, Mathieu Montcourt of France, the highest seeded player competing Sunday in the boys’ 18s , got off to a slow start against American wild card Scoville Jenkins, before cruising in his 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win. No. 5 Chris Kwon of Boca Raton, Fla., easily dispatched of Bastian Koch of Germany, 6-0, 6-1 while No. 6 Go Soeda of Japan edged Canadian Andrew Piotrowski, 6-4, 6-4.
A local favorite, Brendan Evans of Key Biscayne, dropped his first round match to “lucky loser” Novak Djokovic of Yugoslavia, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1. Djokovic lost in the final round of qualifying on Saturday but gained a berth in the main draw as a “lucky loser” when a player withdrew. Ironically, Denis Matsoukevitch, the player who defeated Djokovic in qualifying, lost his first round match in the main draw to Juan DeArmas of Venezuela, 6-2, 6-2.
In all, five “lucky losers” rebounded to post first round wins in the main draw on Sunday.
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