 Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 18 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 | | | |
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| 16 Dec 2003 - Florida, USA - Tim Curry | |
| Baghdatis Clinches World No. 1 Ranking After Tsonga Drops First Round Match at Orange Bowl International Championships |
Key Biscayne, Fla. -- Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus clinched the year-end No. 1 spot in the ITF World Junior Rankings on Monday without taking the court after No. 2 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France was upset in the first round of the 2003 Orange Bowl International Championships at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
Tsonga, the reigning US Open junior champion, fell to unheralded Ryan Rowe of the United States, 7-6 (5), 6-0. After the match, he admitted his nerves got the better of him. During the match he was visibly upset, smashing his racquet in half after losing the first set, an uncharacteristic move for the mild mannered Frenchman.
It was an anticlimactic end to the battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking between Tsonga and Baghdatis, who split four head-to-head meetings this year. Both players had early exits in last week’s USTA International Winter Championships, which meant the Orange Bowl would determine who finished atop the 2003 rankings.
Baghdatis, the reigning Australian Open junior champion, cannot be overtaken in the rankings even if he losses his first-round match against Californian Jamil Al-Agba Tuesday. He joins a list of former ITF World Junior Champions including Andy Roddick (2000) and Roger Federer (1998), the top two players in this year’s final ATP Champions Race.
No. 4 Chris Kwon of nearby Boca Raton, Fla., was the only other seeded player to fall in the first round on Monday, losing to Great Britain’s Miles Kasiri, 6-4, 6-2.
In girls’ action, Michealla Krajicek began her quest for the 2003 ITF World Junior Champion title with a decisive straight sets win over Michelle Mitchell. Krajicek, the fourteen-year-old half sister of former Wimbledon champion, Richard Krajicek, can dethrone Kirsten Flipkens as the No. 1 player in the world by winning the title this week. Flipkens, a member of the Belgian Fed Cup team that lost to the United States in the 2003 World Group semifinals last month in Russia, is not competing here this week, but won the junior titles at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.
No. 3 seed Veronika Chvojkova of the Czech Republic advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Slovenia’s Ana Jerman but No. 4 Carly Gullickson, the highest seeded American, lost her first round match against Egypt’s Heidi El Tabakh, 6-1, 7-6 (4).Report by Tim Curry at Crandon Park Photos by Susan Mullane
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