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| 12 Aug 2003 | |
| First Day's Report |
Following the spectacular opening ceremony, the 13th World Junior Tennis Finals got off to a promising start on the excellent courts of the TK Plus Tennis Club, in Prostejov with each of the 32 teams full of expectation for the week ahead.
All teams played the first of their three ties in the round robin section on this first day.
The USA boys’ team, led by Donald Young – and holders of the title – began their campaign in fine style by taking their tie 3-0 against South Africa.
Venezuela proved to be a team not to be taken lightly when they took the No 2 seeds, Czech Republic, to the doubles. Roberto Maytin, the No 1 player on the team, beat his opponent , Michal Konecny 75 64. A super win for him and certainly a player to watch this week.
Croatia, France and Australia (3rd, 4th and 5th seeds respectively) each won their ties 3-0. The unseeded Mexican team lost the first set of their tie against Great Britain (No 6 seeds) but went on to defeat the Brits in the next six sets, taking the tie 3-0.
Chile (seeded No 8) were defeated by the very capable Japanese team which is led by Fumiaki Kita, a semi-finalist in the Young Cup in Hasselt which took place the week preceding these Finals.
The No 7 seeds, Belarus, won their tie against Italy 2-1, winning the first two rubbers but then allowing their opponents to take the doubles 62 62.
In the girls’ event all the seeded teams made a successful start to the week. The Russians cruised through their match against Japan without dropping a set while Italy, seeded 8, had to fight hard to overcome the Uruguayans as both singles matches went to 3 sets. As expected, the USA team stormed through their first round-robin tie with a 3-0 victory over the Thai team. Brazil (No 7 seeds) narrowly defeated New Zealand with their No 1 player Roxana Vaisemberg having to pull out all the stops to beat a defiant Ellen Barry 36 64 75.
No 4 seeds Canada had an unequivocal win over the lone African girls’ team from Morocco taking the tie 3-0. Winner of several Championships this year, including Les Petits As and the Orange Bowl, Sharon Fichman, paired up with fellow Canadian Jillian O’Neill to repeat their doubles victory at the U14 European Championships (Vichy, France) to win the rubber in straight sets 61 61.
Meanwhile, the home team proved deserving of their No 3 seeding by overcoming Poland to win their tie 2-1. Despite the strength of the Poles, the Czech player Nicole Vaidisova proved to be too good for her singles opponent, Joanna Matuszczyk, winning the singles 60 62. The pair met again in the doubles with the Poles losing 26 36.
Both Bolivia and Romania are represented here at the Finals for the first time since the inception of the event and here they were up against each other on the first day. Bolivia found themselves overwhelmed by the strength of the Romanian girls’ team, led by Raluca Olaru the current European Under 14 champion.
Australia (No 6 seeds) narrowly defeated the Croatian girls 2-1. In the first singles fought between the No 2 players of each country, Michelle Brycki lost to the Croatian Maja Sujica 46 16. The roles were then reversed when the Croatian No 1 Mirna Marinovic beat her opponent Holly Cao 76(8), 46 64. So, a tense doubles lay ahead. Australia clinched this rubber 62 62, taking the tie 2-1.
Any spectator at this first days’ play will have witnessed some tremendous tennis from these 14 year olds, some of whom have never before played on clay. Some very happy moments and some not so happy. Unseeded Venezuela boys worked so hard but, despite a brave fight, conceded to the Czech Republic team in the deciding doubles.
We look forward to the second day of play on these beautiful courts and in the sunshine, too.
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