|
|
| 11 Oct 2003 | |
| Top duo to meet in boys' final, surprise defeat for Laine |
Marcos Baghdatis,of Cyprus, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France,
duly lived up to their billing and reached the boys’ singles final of the Osaka
Super Juniors, but in totally contrasting styles.
While Tsonga executed a ruthless dismissal Korea’s Sun-Yong
Kim 62 61, Baghdatis, who had previously not been troubled all week, had to
come from behind to subdue Karan Rastogi, of India 57 76(4) 61 and reach his
fourth junior final of the year.
The stage is set for an enthralling final with not only the
title at stake but the chance to take over at the top of the junior boys’
rankings. Whichever boy wins tomorrow will head the new rankings when they are
released on Monday. The two boys have registered two victories apiece in their
previous meetings with Baghdatis will be looking to overturn his recent defeat
in the US Open junior final.
The girls’ singles saw a surprise defeat for top seed Emma
Laine, of Finland. Veronika Chvojkova (CZE), who lost to the Finnish girl in
April, avenged that defeat with a battling 64 46 64 victory to reach her first
Grade A final in what has been her most successful week on the ITF Junior
Circuit. She now faces fellow Czech and second seed Andrea Hlavackova, who saw
off the challenge of Rui Du, of China 75 61. This must be Hlavackova’s best
chance yet of winning a Grade A title, which would boost her ranking from tenth
to sixth.
The Czech has already tasted success here with victory in
the girls’ doubles. Playing with Emma Laine, the top seeds beat Nozomi Aiba
(JPN) and Yung-Jan Chan (TPE) 75 60 while second seeds Arunprakash Rajagopalan
and Divij Sharan, from India upset the
Australian top seeds Lachlan Ferguson and Joel Kerley 76(4) 76(5) to win
the boys’ doubles’ title.
Check itfjuniors.com tomorrow for reports from the
final day.
Click here to see the drawsheets.
^ Back to Top
|
