 Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 28 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 28 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jan 2004 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 29 Jan 2004 |
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| 28 Jan 2004 - Melbourne Park, Australia - Eleanor Preston | |
| Zemlja rolls over Rieschick |
Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja scored the biggest upset of day three of the Australian Open juniors when he knocked out boys’ top seed Sebastien Rieschick, beating the German 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
“I was very confident before the match because I knew I had nothing to lose,” said the Slovenian. “He is No.1 in the world and it’s my first time here, so the pressure was on him. Beating him has made me realise that I can do so much more; I can win a few rounds here.”
Zemlja says he is thoroughly enjoying his debut at Melbourne Park. “These have been my first few victories in a Grand Slam and they could be very important for my career,” he said. “For me this is another world, to be around all these other players and fans and being around Rod Laver Arena. It makes me feel very special just to be here.”
Zemlja’s solid play against Reischick had echoes of his hero David Nalbandian, something which pleased Zemlja no end. “I like him very much because it always looks like he is playing so easy. He seems like he isn’t using too much power but he moves players around and he never gives in,” he said. “I would like to be like him on the court. I already play a little bit like him because my strength is playing on the baseline and keeping down my unforced errors.”
Seeds Gael Monfils (FRA), Karan Rastogi (IND), and Fritz Wolfmarins (RSA) all managed to avoid Reischick’s fate after scoring straight sets wins and it was a good day, too, for young Americans Scoville Jenkins and Scott Oudsema, both of whom moved through to the third round. Jenkins eased past Juho Paukko (FIN) 7-6, 6-3; Oudsema beat Joel Kerly (AUS) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
”Joel came up playing very nicely and he forced me to play some of my best tennis going into the second set,” said Oudsema. “I was glad to come through.”
Oudsema also teamed up with fellow American Brendan Evans to beat Austrians Martin Fischer and Philipp Oswald 6-2, 6-0.
“It’s great having so many other American guys around because when we are at event s we get along nicely,” said Oudsema. “We enjoy each other’s company and we always practice together. That always makes you feel more at home.”
“It’s challenging, it’s compelling and we all go out there and want to beat each other but, also, root for each other,” said Evans. “Now we have all these Americans doing well where a year ago people were asking where all the American juniors were.”
Top seeded girl Jarmila Gajdosova enhanced her status as tournament favourite with a 6-4, 6-0 win over American Yasmin Schnack, while second seed Veronika Chvojkova (CZE) beat Wang-ting Liu of China 6-0, 6-2.
Overall it was a mixed day for the Chinese contingent at Melbourne Park. Rui Du, seeded 15th, became the only seed to fall in the girls’ draw on Wednesday when she lost 6-3, 7-5 to Australia’s Natalie Tanevska.
Beijing-born Sheng-Nan Sun, seeded eight, redressed the balance with her 6-0, 7-5 victory over Sanaa Bhambri of India.
To read reports from previous days at Melbourne Park click here to go to the Grand Slam page.
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