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| 05 Sep 2003 | |
| Clouds lift for US Open juniors |
By Eleanor Preston in New York
The US Open junior competition was forced to move indoors on Thursday, after three and a half days of rain created wreaked havoc with the schedule. The weather also put paid to both the girls’ and boys’ doubles competitions, which organisers were forced to cancel as the rain continued to pour and the backlog of matches grew.
By Thursday morning only half of the boys’ and girls’ first round matches had been completed and organisers reluctantly decided to play the remainder of the first round matches at the Sound Shore Indoor Tennis Centre in Port Chester, ten minutes’ drive from Flushing Meadows.
With an improved weather forecast for Friday the second round and beyond will be played at the National Tennis Centre, providing, of course, the weather obliges and the rain stays away.
Current girls’ No.1 Michaela Krajicek (NED) made the most of finally getting on court, beating American Krysty Marcio 6-2, 6-1 but afterwards she admitted the circumstances had been trying for everyone.
“It felt so strange for both of us, not having played for three days,” said Krajicek. “I didn’t like it that much to be honest. I’m very happy that I won so I can play another match. Hopefully it won’t rain more so I can get to play here at Flushing Meadows and enjoy the second round a bit more.”
Krajicek arrived at the National Tennis Centre to practice on the still wet outdoor courts before catching a hastily organised bus service to Port Chester. “When we moved inside the surface was pretty much the same. It was more the lights that were a problem. It just took a little bit of getting used to.”
Krajicek was joined in the second round by top seeded American Bethanie Mattek, who beat Tara Iyer of India 6-0, 6-4; Wimbledon champion Kirsten Flipkens (BEL), France’s Tatiana Golovin, Finland’s Emma Laine, American Ally Baker all scored straight sets wins.
In the boys’ competition last year’s runner-up Marcos Baghadatis was given a scare by Australia’s Adam Feeney. The top-seeded Cypriot was pushed all the way before winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6. Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Americans Brendan Evans and Brian Baker and Britain’s Andrew Murray also scored wins.
Things could get even tougher for all the juniors in the next few days. The weather has created a scheduling backlog so bad that even with the cancellation of the doubles’ competition players face as many as four singles matches in the next two days. Organisers are hoping to complete the second round matches by the end of Friday and the quarter-finals by the end of Saturday.
Krajicek wasn’t looking forward to the coming days and what may turn out to be a test of endurance as much as tennis talent. “That will be really strange I think and it will be really hard too because if we get in a situation where we have to play two or three matches in a day I don’t know if I can make that. I did that once before and it was tough,” she admitted, before looking for the bright side. “I guess it’s all good experience.”
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