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| 01 Sep 2001 | |
| US Open preview |
For many juniors the US Open signifies the last Grand Slam of their junior career. It therefore has the added significance of being their final chance to make a name for themselves before moving onto the professional tours.
As one of the last three Grade A tournaments of the year, there are also valuable points up for grabs in the race to be the Junior World Champion.
Girls
All eyes will be on Estonian Kaia Kanepi, currently heading up the ITF Girls Singles rankings. The sixteen-year-old is the only girl to have won two Grade A titles this year, the Italian Open and Roland Garros, and was hotly tipped for the Junior Wimbledon title before being forced to pull out with shin splints. An ominous sign for her opponents is the fact that she lists both clay and hard courts as her favourite surfaces. Her two previous Grade A titles came on clay, so she could be ready to show what she can do on the hard courts of Flushing Meadows. An added incentive will be the 200 bonus points on offer for winning three Grade A titles.
Kanepi’s biggest rival will be American Ashley Harkleroad. Having grown up on hard courts, Harkleroad will also have the distinct advantage of getting an early feel for the courts by receiving wild cards into all three senior events. A semifinalist at two Grand Slams this year, Melbourne and Paris, Harkleroad was seeded No.1 at Wimbledon but found the grass not to her liking and suffered a bitterly disappointing defeat in the second round. The crucial factor for the pretty all-American sixteen-year-old could be how she handles the attention she will certainly receive, not only as the home favourite, but also as the pretender to Anna Kournikova’s crown, as she is being touted in the media.
Impossible to ignore is Dinara Safina, the tall Russian who narrowly missed out on the Junior Wimbledon crown. Following the devastation of her loss in her last Grand Slam, the feisty fifteen-year-old will be determined not to experience the same feelings again. Safina is another who lists hard courts as her favourite surface and at almost 6ft tall will be aiming to use her height and power to her advantage.
Winners of the other two Grand Slams this year, Jelena Jankovic (YUG), Australian Open champion, and Angelique Widjaja (INA), Junior Wimbledon champion, will both be looking to add a second crown to their collections.
Names to watch for also include Bethannie Mattek, another young American who received a wild card into the women’s main draw and is Ashley Harkleroad’s doubles partner in the women’s doubles. Despite losing in three sets in the first round of the main draw, Mattek was by no means outplayed by her opponent, Alicia Molik (AUS), ranked No. 68 in the WTA rankings.
Marie-Gaine Mikaelian, of Armenia, has the highest WTA ranking in the junior draw at No.108 and came through qualifying to reach the women’s main draw,before losing in the first round.
Boys
All of the boys in the draw this year will be dreaming of following in the footsteps of last year’s US Open Boys champion, Andy Roddick. Roddick, who only finished his junior career last December, has gone from strength to strength after winning last year’s crown and this year finds himself seeded No. 18 in the main draw.
Whoever succeeds Roddick as champion will be a first time Grand Slam winner. The title holders of the three previous slams this year will not be competing, thus leaving the field wide open. Janko Tipsarevic, Australian Open champion and No. 1 in the boys’ rankings, and Roman Valent, Junior Wimbledon champion, have both been forced to make late withdrawals from the event, whilst Roland Garros winner Carlos Cuadrado did not enter.
Gilles Muller (LUX) is one of the favourites to lift the trophy this year. At No. 2 in the boys’ rankings, he was runner-up at Junior Wimbledon and the Italian Open, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open and won the Grade A Banana Bowl in Brazil. He has performed well on all surfaces this year and his big serve could serve him well on the hard courts. He also has the added incentive of knowing that with Tipsarevic out of the running, a good performance will see him move to No. 1 in the rankings. Like Harkleroad he may have to cope with the off court attention, as he was a hit with the girls at Wimbledon!
Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (TPE), or ‘Jimmy’ as he is known on the junior circuit, could challenge Muller for the title, having reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, where he was narrowly beaten by eventual champion Valent. He was also runner up at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year. Despite having a much smaller build than many of his opponents, he manages to generate an awesome amount of power off his groundstrokes.
Ytai Abougzir is the highest ranked American in the draw at No. 8. Despite having some disappointing results this year, losing in the first round of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, he does tend to perform far better on the US hard courts. Last year he reached the semifinals, so has the experience of knowing that he can do well at Flushing Meadows, as well as the advantage of the home crowd behind him.
Outsiders to watch out for include Alex Bogomolov, the Russian-born American. He has been concentrating on the men’s tour this year so is somewhat of an unknown quantity in the juniors. However he did lead the USA team to victory in the U16 NEC World Youth Cup in 1999 and loves the attention of playing in front of the US supporters.
Alejandro Falla could spring a surprise on the hard courts if he can use some of his doubles experience to pull him through. Ranked No. 3 in the doubles rankings, this charming Colombian has not got off to the best of starts on the hard courts, losing in the first round of the Canadian Open. However at No. 7 in the singles rankings and winner of the Grade A Italian Open, he cannot be overlooked.
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