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| 05 Sep 2001 | |
| Gisela Dulko pushed to three sets by US wild card Ally Baker |
By Eleanor Preston
On a day of overcast skies and stormy weather at Flushing Meadows, the US Open girls’ junior competition continued apace despite two long delays for rain. Wednesday saw wins for second seed Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian, who beat Tory Zawacki 6-2, 7-5, and junior Wimbledon champion Angelique Widjaja, who was too strong for Chia-Jung Chuang of Taipei. Widjaja, from Indonesia, won the all-Asian battle 7-6, 6-2.
Third seed Gisela Dulko was made to battle hard for her place in the third round. Dulko, from Argentina, was pushed to three sets for the second match in a row. She held on, despite repeatedly being halted by rain, to defeat American wildcard Ally Baker 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
"For the first two matches I didn’t play too well but I’m winning so that’s okay," said Dulko afterwards. "I win but I’m not playing my best tennis so if I can do that from now on I think I have a good chance."
Dulko is seeded third in the girls singles event and says she is enjoying playing in front of a New York crowd, even if most of those watching Tuesday’s match were cheering for Baker. "Always when I practice there is just me and my coach but then today there were a lot of people which was really nice," said Dulko. "Sometimes they are screaming for you, sometimes not, but it’s good that they are watching, as long as you keep concentrating and try not to notice them too much."
Dulko has a tough match against Barbora Strycova next after Strycova knocked out 16th seed Virag Nemeth 6-1, 6-3 but the16-year-old is sounding confident after the first two rounds. "This is an important tournament for me and I want to be good here," said Dulko. Strycova be warned.
Another player who is finding her feet here at Flushing Meadows is Wimbledon runner up Dinara Safina. Safina, seeded 15, edged out Ana Vrijic 6-2, 7-6, despite having to shake off back trouble. "I had a sore back today and I was in a lot of pain. In the second set I was 5-1 down and I didn’t know what I was going to do," admitted Safina, "but then I got a bit lucky and won in the tiebreaker."
In the boys singles competition, top seed Gilles Muller, ninth seed Lamine Ouahab and seventh seed Florian Mayer all advanced to the third round with straight sets wins. Mexico’s Bruno Echagaray, seeded eighth, had a tougher time but also managed to eke out a victory. Echagaray defeated Ryan Sherry 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.
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