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| 28 May 2003 | |
| The Stage is Set |
Seventeen of both the top twenty boys and girls on the
current ITF junior rankings will converge on Stade Roland Garros to contest the
2003 French Open Junior Championships, which begin on Sunday 1 June.
Marcos Baghdatis, of Cyprus, in what is effectively his home
grand slam, given that he trains in Paris will be particularly keen to impress.
After winning the Australian junior title in January, he returns to the junior
circuit after success on the ITF Futures circuit and will certainly hope to
improve on his previous showing which has produced two defeats in two matches.
The defeated finalist from Australia, Florin Mergea, of Romania also returns to the junior circuit
and will be looking to go one step further.
Three other players who have been claiming titles on the
professional circuit this year will be serious contenders: Spain’s Nicolas
Almagro impressively advertised his credentials when winning the Italian junior
title last week, while Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, who already boasts a
victory over Almagro this year on the professional circuit, will pose a serious
threat. Dudi Sela, of Israel, who reached the quarterfinals last year, will
hope that the experience gained at professional level can help him go further
this year.
Daniel Gimeno-Traver is the one name that stands out from
the players that have been playing recently on the junior circuit in Europe.
The Spaniard, a former World Youth Cup teammate of Almagro, has climbed from
nowhere to fourth in the junior rankings in just three months and it took
Almagro to snap his impressive 32 match-winning streak. If he is not overawed
by his first Grand Slam experience, he will surely pose a threat to anyone.
The host nation are fielding a very strong quartet – Jo-
Wilfred Tsonga and Mathieu Montcourt reached the semifinals in Australia and
along with quarterfinalist Gael Monfils, return to junior action, hoping that
home support will spur them on to greater success. They are joined by lively
outsider Julien Gely, who has just reached the Italian semifinals and captured two
titles this spring.
Gyorgy Balazs, of Hungary has also been in good form on the
European circuit and has convincingly won his last two tournaments but the
Grade A Osaka Mayor’s Cup winner has yet to win a match at a Grand Slam event
but has the potential to do well, as could Brian Baker, the Orange Bowl
champion, who has yet to advance beyond the last 16 of a Grand Slam event.
Junior Wimbledon Champion Vera Douchevina, of Russia will be
hoping to keep the younger brigade at bay in the girls’ singles, where youth
will be very much to the fore. The in-form 14-year-old Michaela Krajicek, of
the Netherlands, fresh from her Italian Open victory, has built a 33-2 record
for the year and is looking for a third Grade A title. She enters the Grand
Slam arena for the first time, as does Russia’s 13-year-old Alisa Kleybanova,
the Banana Bowl champion and it will be fascinating to see how these two girls
cope with the experience. Another 14-year-old, Ukraine’s Viktoria Kutuzova has
shown she can perform on the big stage by reaching the Australian Open final
and ran Krajicek close in the Italian Open.
Katerina Bohmova of the Czech Republic must also come into
the reckoning on the strength of her recent form as she has reached the final
of her last four tournaments and beat Douchevina in Milan to reach the final.
Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld plays her first junior tournament of the year
and the Orange Bowl runner-up could go close after some good recent results in
WTA clay-court events, while Ryoko Fuda, of Japan may also put herself in
contention if she can reproduce her Osaka Mayor’s Cup winning form.
Russian-born Tatiana Golovin leads the French girls’
challenge and will be eager to do well after reaching the Wimbledon and US Open
junior semifinals last year. She, and her compatriot, Anais Laurendon have been
honing their skills on the professional tour this year and have already sampled
this year’s atmosphere by playing in the main draw as wildcards.
Poland’s Marta Domachowska rarely plays at junior level but
has proven form on the big stage, reaching the quarterfinals last year and
semifinals in Australia and may be a dark horse, as could Hungary’s Virag
Nemeth, who was a quarterfinalist in 2001 and has been playing well on the
professional circuit in 2003 after missing most of last season through injury.
A fascinating week is ensured and you can keep up-to-date
with all the action here from Sunday onwards as the juniors battle to be
crowned Roland Garros champions.
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