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| 22 Jan 2001 | |
| Top Seeds Pass Go at the Australian Open |
By Kim Trengove
It was not the sort of weather top seeded Jelena Jankovic was expecting for her first match of the season and her debut at the Australian Open Junior Girls’ Championships. Unlike many of her more fancied rivals, Jankovic, 15, skipped the Open lead-in tournaments at Traralgon and Nottinghill-Pinewood and began her campaign against Swiss Daniela Casanova under a deceptively cloudy sky.
She bagged the first set without the loss of a game, but the muggy conditions and escalating heat contributed to a 4-2 lapse in the second set. "I just felt tired," said Jankovic, who was relieved to dredge out a 6-0, 7-6(4) victory owing to her opponent’s four-point string of errors in the second set tie-breaker. "I stopped playing aggressive. I was in good shape but suddenly I could not breathe."
Boys’ world No.1 junior and fellow Yugoslavian Janko Tipsarevic had no such trouble against his first round opponent, Chris Kwon from America. Well acclimatised after competing in the Australian Junior Championships at Traralgon and winning last week’s Australian Junior Hardcourt Championships, Tipsarevic breezed to a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
Also looking sharp in the boys’ tournament were No.2 seed Roman Valent, who defeated Sunil Kumar Sipaeya 6-4, 6-4, British qualifier Tom Pocock, who defeated Matija Zgaga 6-4, 6-0, 15th seed Gilles Muller, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Christian Chao and No.5 seed Yeu-Tzuoo Wang, who knocked out Ivan Stelko 6-3, 6-2. However, Australian Raphael Durek staged the upset of the day when he hijacked No.3 seed Yen-Hsun Lu 6-1, 6-4.
With her famous brother Lleyton Hewitt watching from the stands, South Australian Jaslyn Hewitt pulled off a magnificent upset over tenth seeded Maria Jose Lopez, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Fellow Aussie and No.14 seed Todd Reid, one of a growing band of talented juniors harnessing his skills at Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Florida, followed Hewitt onto Showcourt 2. Reid, the current Victorian Junior Champion, looked to be having an easy day out against Jan Masik from Czecho Republic and skipped to a 3-0 lead. The matched evened up momentarily before Reid closed 6-4, 6-1 and he will now play fellow top Australian junior Adam Kennedy.
Young Ecuadorian Davis Cup player Giovanni Lapentti had a tough match against German Simon Stadler and eventually succumbed to the sixth seed 6-4, 5-7, 8-6. Three days shy of his 18th birthday (he plans to celebrate at the local Casino), Lapentti said he felt more pressure playing juniors than he did competing in pro events. "I was really nervous," said Lapentti, who also lost second round in the juniors at Wimbledon last year before lifting his country to the World Group in Davis Cup with a fifth rubber victory against Great Britain. "I haven’t won a tournament in juniors. I play because I have to play and not because I like it. I feel the pressure. I have to get used to that."
Apart from Hewitt’s victory, the girls’ tournament held few surprises. All other seeded players progressed smoothly, however No.8 seed Barbora Strycova and No.15 seed Jane O’Donoghue needed three sets to shake off their opponents.
Tomorrow, tournament favourite Marion Bartoli steps out against Alice Barnes from Great Britain. Unlike top seed Jankovic, French girl Bartoli is swiftly moving her way up the junior rankings intent on usurping last year’s Australian Open champion Aniko Kapros and current No.1 ranked Maria Emilia Salerni. Bartoli is undefeated in 28 matches, winning the last three tournaments she has entered including the Australian Hardcourt Championships, where she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia in the final.
Full results from the Australian Open Junior Championships can be found on www.ausopen.org
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