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| 21 May 2003 | |
| Favourites march on |
The third day of the Italian Junior Open saw the last 16 get underway as well as the completion
of round two.
The girls’ second round action saw the No.5 seed, from the
Czech Republic, Katerina Bohmova, swiftly dismiss France’s Marinne Giraud 61
61. Meanwhile in the boys’ singles, eighth seed Slovak Kamil Capkovic,
overcame Sebastian Rieschick, of Germany, 64 76 to book a last 16 meeting with
ninth seed Luis Flores; the Mexican an easy 61 61 winner over Argentine Juan
Pablo Amado.
Later in the day, quarterfinal places were at stake in boys
and girls’ third round matches. The top two seeds in the girls’ singles
advanced but were made to battle hard for their victories. Top seed Vera Douchevina,
of Russia, fought off her Belarussian opponent, Viktoriya Azarenka, playing in
only her fifth junior tournament, in a tight battle, 75 64 and Dutch second
seed, Michaela Krajicek put paid to Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko’s hopes,
coming back from a second set lapse to win 64 16 62. Krajicek will now meet
Kirsten Flipkens, of Belgium in the last eight and the Dutch girl will be
hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself; Flipkens won their only previous
meeting last November in Luxembourg. Douchevina will meet the day’s surprise winner,
Agnes Szavay; the Hungarian upsetting seventh-seeded Croatian, Nadja Pavic 46
63 75.
Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver reached his appointed place in
the boys’ quarterfinals with a 63 36 63 defeat of Lado Chikhladze, of Georgia.
The number three seed is the only player of the four already into the quarterfinals in familiar territory, as
today’s three other winners all reached a Grade A quarterfinal for the
first time in their careers. Vilim Visak, of Croatia ended Italian hopes by beating Andrea
Arnaboldi 61 64 and will now face Julian Gely, of France, who followed up his
surprise victory over Andrew Murray by ousting tenth seed and last year’s
quarterfinalist here, Michael Zverev 63 26 64. Alex Kuznetsov, of USA put out
Great Britain’s Jamie Baker, seeded eleven, 36 64 63 to earn the right to face
Gimeno-Traver in the last eight and a chance to avenge his defeat in the Gerdau
Tennis Cup final in March.
Tomorrow's play will see the completion of the third round matches.
For fully updated drawsheets from the tournament please click here
Photos courtesy of Francesco Panuzio
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