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| 03 Jun 2003 | |
| Golovin floored by flying Finn |
By Eleanor Preston at Roland Garros
Finland’s Emma Laine caused the biggest upset of day three of the French Open girls’ competition by knocking out French star Tatiana Golovin in straight sets. Laine, who surprised everyone by getting to the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, beat the fourth seed 6-2, 6-3.
There was a shock in the boys’ competition too, when Australia’s twelfth seed Chris Guccione was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 by Novak Djokovic (YUG).
Laine said she hadn’t been fazed by the occasion, despite being the underdog and playing in front of a pro-French crowd.
“I didn’t think about the fact that I was playing a French girl, because I enjoy playing in front of many people and I also knew that some Finnish people would be watching too,” said Laine, who is not seeded at Roland Garros. “In my first match I was so tight because the first match is always tough but today I just told myself not to think about it, to relax, have fun and enjoy it. Of course it’s easier when you are playing a seed and you don’t expect very much. Tatiana certainly had much more pressure on her because of playing in France.”
Laine, 17, proved by reaching the last four in Melbourne that she enjoys playing on tennis’ biggest stages and she has also notched up a semi-final at the International Junior Championships of Croatia and was runner-up at the Citte Di Santa Croce tournament three weeks ago.
“Australia was a breakthrough for me. I never expected to make the semi-final but afterwards I had a lot more inspiration and I believed in myself a lot more, especially in big tournaments,” said Laine. “The Australian Open helped me so much because I was a much better player after it. The biggest thing I got out of was experience.”
That experience should come in handy again when she takes on ITF Tourning Team mate Katerina Bondarenko on Wednesday. Bondarenko, of the Ukraine, beat Megan Falcon (USA) 6-2, 6-0.
After an impressive first round performance on Sunday, Michaela Krajicek (NED) sealed her place in the third round with another emphatic victory, this time against Iris Ichim of the USA. Krajicek beat Ichim 7-6(5), 6-2.
Czech seventh seed Katerina Bohmova and second seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) both stole a march on their rivals by scoring quarter-final berths. Bohmova beat Vojislava Lukic 6-0. 4-6, 6-4 and Groenefeld eased past Spain’s Adriana Gonzalez Penas 6-1, 6-3.
In the boys’ competition, Australian Open finalist Florin Mergea had a dog fight on his hands against Michael Zverev (GER) but eventually triumphed 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. He now takes on fifth seed Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) in the last 16. Top seed Marcos Baghadatis, who beat Mergea in the Australian Open final earlier this year, will play Britain’s Andrew Murray in the third round after both scored straight sets wins.
Photos by Susan Mullane
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