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| 28 Jun 2003 | |
| Baker keeps the heat on at Wimbledon, American star brings clay court form to grass |
By Eleanor Preston
Making the transition from clay to grass can be one of the hardest gear changes in tennis, yet American Brian Baker, who reached the Roland Garros final earlier this month, took his first steps onto a grass court yesterday and danced into the second round of the Wimbledon boys’ competition.
Baker, who lost the final in Paris to Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, admits that grass is not his best surface and when he dropped the first set to Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine it looked like Baker’s visit to SW19 would be brief. Instead Baker, who was born in Nashville Tennessee but lives in Florida, fought his way back into the match, eventually beating the Ukrainian 2-6 6-4 6-2.
Not all the biggest names in the boys’ draw managed to escape trouble so easily. Jocelyn Ouanna (FRA), Scott Oudsema (USA) and Britain’s Guy Thomas all failed to get past the first round after suffering defeats on the first day of the tournament. Oudsema lost 6-4 7-5 to Bruno Rosa (BRA) while Ouanna was beaten 6-3 7-5 by Australia’s Adam Feeney, who is 18.
Thomas, who impressed in Melbourne in January, could not make the most of the home support he enjoys at Wimbledon and lost 6-3 7-6 to Heithem Abid of Tunisia.
There were also wins for Michael Zverev of Germany, Fritz Wolmarans (RSA), who was given a wildcard into the tournament, Luis Flores of Mexico and Miles Kasiri of Great Britain.
In the girls’ competition British wildcard Katie O’Brien sent shockwaves through the draw by knocking out Czech 16-year-old Katerina Bohmova, beating the sixth seed 2-6 6-0 7-5. O’Brien is one of eight British girls in the junior tournament, all of whom needed wildcards to gain entry into the main draw.
The news was not as good for O’Brien’s fellow Briton Holly Bagshaw, who was beaten in the first round.
16-year-old Carly Gullikson looked in imposing form as she whipped through her first round match, sending the British crowd home disappointed after demolishing local wildcard Georgie Stoop 6-2 6-3.
The Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko, 16, inflicted a lesson in grass court tennis to American Krysty Marcio, dropping just three games on her way to an emphatic 6-2 6-1. The prize for the most one-sided win of the day undoubtedly goes to Canada’s Katerina Zoricic, who was utterly merciless in dismissing South Africa’s Tarryn Rudman 6-0 6-0 for a watertight win.
With players both young and old rested on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon, action in the junior events will resume on Monday, when America’s Ally Baker will be hoping to build on her success in winning the Wimbledon warm-up event at Roehampton last week by getting some wins under her belt at the All England Club. Michaela Krajicek (NED), who made a splash at Roland Garros by sauntering into the semi-finals, will also be in action. In the boys’ tournament, Chris Guccione (AUS) will be hoping to keep the Wimbledon boys’ trophy in Australian hands by emulating Todd Reid’s memorable run to the title a year ago.
Photos by Susan Mullane
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