 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 22 Dec 2003 | | |
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| 19 Dec 2003 - Crandon Park, Florida, USA - Tim Curry | |
| Niculescu Knocks Off Two Seeds, Advances to Semifinals at Orange Bowl International |
Key Biscayne, Fla. – Unseeded Monica Niculescu defeated No. 7 Katerina Bohmova and No. 14 Madalina Gojnea on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Orange Bowl International Championships at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
The opponents were familiar.
Two weeks ago, the sixteen-year-old Romanian defeated Gojnea and Bohmova on consecutive days to reach the final at the Eddie Herr International.
The situation was not new either.
She won her quarterfinal and semifinal matches on same day at the USTA Winter International Championships here Saturday. Niculescu lost both finals to Katerina Bondarenko.
“Today it was very difficult (playing two matches on the same day), but I was used to it,” said Niculescu, whose older sister upset Bondarenko in the first round here.
Since Niculescu is not a regular on the ITF World Junior circuit, she gained entry into the three-week series based on her WTA Tour Ranking of No. 455, but had to play the qualifying rounds at all three event. Her improved game has resulted in a lot of matches during amount of time.
“Before I was putting the ball in the court, running all the time, not building a lot of points,” said Niculescu, who is 20-2 in singles during the past three week. “I’ve played so many matches now my forehand is stronger. I go to volley. I hit harder. It’s changed a lot.”
Niculescu will face No. 16 seed Nicole Vaidisova next. The other semifinal includes two players with better WTA Tour Rankings than Niculescu: Canada’s Stephanie Dubouis (No. 413) and American wild card Neha Uberoi (No. 447).
Despite Bondarenko’s absence, Niculescu doesn’t need the title to feel content about her game.
“I trust my game and I think I can win, but if I loose, I am not upset,” she said. “My mother says ‘no you did your best it’s o.k.’ I talk to her all the time. It’s super. I cannot believe it. I beat girls that are Top 10 ITF.”
In the boys’ event, No. 1 Marcos Baghdatis survived a scared from Alex Kuznetsov in the quarterfinals, dropping his first set of the tournament during his 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1. Both players received treatment for cramping in their left legs early in the third set.
“The cramping started in the tiebreak it the second set,” said Baghdatis, who lost in the semifinals here last year to eventual champion Brian Baker. “Alex plays very, very well. If he continues to work hard he will continue playing very good. He’s so professional. He’s so serious. It’s not easy to play first year of juniors and he did well. He’ll finish Top 15. He’s a great player. It was a tough match today.”
The top half of the draw did not play on Thursday, giving Baghdatis a much-needed day off. He has played over 100 singles matches this season and had the pressure of keeping his world-No. 1 ranking before second-ranked Jo-Wilfreid Tsonga was upset in the first round.
“It’s great to have a day off,” said Baghdatis. “I like to have days off some time just to go on an do something else like play football. I didn’t play too much tennis (Thursday), maybe 20 minutes. It was a great day and I came here with motivation and fresh to play two matches today.”
Baghdatis next opponent is Josselin Ouanna, a straight sets winner over last week’s champion Sebastian Rieschick. Boca Raton’s Brendan Evans will meet Gael Monfils in the other semifinal.
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