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| 25 Jan 2001 | |
| Bartoli's Run Ends, Tipsarevic Moves into Quarter-finals |
By Kim Trengove
Hot favorite Marion Bartoli had her 29-match winning streak snapped by Su-Wei Hsieh at Melbourne Park today. Taiwanese Hsieh, who only turned 15 a few weeks ago, beat Bartoli 6-3, 7-5 and thereby prevented the French girl from reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Junior Championships.
A distraught Bartoli said she was battling cramps and had developed a headache in the stifling 35-degree heat. "She plays good and I can’t run," said the crestfallen 16-year-old, who has set her sights on becoming the No.1 junior this year. "I am very disappointed." Hsieh, seeded 16, now plays American Sunitha Rao in the quarter-finals after Rao, from New Jersey, dispatched Christina Horiatopoulos 6-1, 6-1. Another American reached the last eight – 15-year-old Ashley Harkleroad from Florida. The No.4 seed made the quarter-finals of last year’s US Open and matched her best today with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Britain’s Jane O’Donoghue. Her next opponent is Claudine Schaul, who deftly bowled out Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-1.
Top seed Jelena Jankovic shook off the cobwebs with a straight sets win over Australia’s best, Samantha Stosur. The match took 47 minutes, but Stosur still managed to commit 39 unforced errors. This was bettered by Angelique Widjaja, who made 45 unforced errors in her one-hour loss to No.3 Lenka Dlhopolcova.
No.7 seeded boy Luciano Vitullo wiped out Thomas Holzer 6-0, 6-2 in the most impressive boys’ performance. Vitullo now faces 15th seeded Gilles Muller from Luxembourg after the 195 cm 17-year-old ended Raphael Durek’s fine run in the tournament. Durek fell 7-5, 6-4 around the same time fellow Australian World Youth Cup gold medallist Todd Reid was defeated by top seed Tipsarevic 6-1, 7-6.
Reid got off to a nervous start against the Yugoslav, his forehand letting him down badly. However, he gave top-ranked Tipsarevic a solid workout in the second set, nicely preparing him for what is sure to be a testing quarter-final against No.6 seeded Simon Stadler from Germany. Stadler defeated Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to equal his best junior Grand Slam performance, last year’s Round of 16 at the US Open. Stadler sent down 30 winners throughout the 1hour 34-minute encounter compared to 14 from Gonzalez.
Canadian wildcard Frank Dancevic was the last unseeded player remaining in the boys’ half, completing a rain-delayed second round against Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The victory earned him a tilt at second seed Roman Valent from Switzerland, who later overcame him 6-7, 6-3, 6-1. Valent now plays No.8 seed Michal Kokta in the quarter-finals while Ytai Abougzir takes on No.5 seed Yeu-Tzuoo Wang, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Robin Soderling.
Top ranked Tipsarevic said he considered everyone a threat at this stage of the tournament, and felt particularly vulnerable since taking over the top mantle from American Andy Roddick. "It’s not easy to be first because everyone wants to beat you," he said. "The first six players- anybody can beat anybody.">www.ausopen.org
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