 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2004 |
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| 30 Jun 2004 - Wimbledon - Eleanor Preston | |
| Kasiri ousts Ouanna but Murray jinxed by Jun |
Wednesday saw mixed fortunes for the three remaining British boys in their home junior grand slam. Miles Kasiri knocked out the third seed and Australian Open finalist Josselin Ouanna of France but Andrew Murray, seeded two, became the highest seed to fall so far when he was beaten 75 63 by Korea’s Woong-Sun Jun.
Kasiri made the most of home advantage to beat Ouanna 63 57 75 and set up a quarterfinal against New Zealand’s William Ward.
Another Briton 17-year-old Jamie Baker, earned himself a quarter-final berth with a 63 64 win over Slovak Republic’s Kamil Capkovic, who was seeded four. Baker plays France’s Jeremy Chardy. Baker and Kasiri make history in being the first two British boys to ever reach the quarterfinals in the same year. Murray’s conqueror Jun plays American Scoville Jenkins.
“Everyone was asking me before the match whether I thought I could beat Ouanna but I just don’t think like that,” said 18-year-old Kasiri. “When I play I don’t pay any attention to who is on the other side of the net. I always go on court believing I can win, otherwise I wouldn’t bother going out there.”
After whipping through the first set Kasiri had to survive a loss of concentration which allowed Ouanna back into the match and threatened to end his chance of winning altogether. The Briton was a break down and needed a well-timed jolt to get himself back on track.
“That’s a real problem of mine,” he admitted. “I have a bad habit of racing through the first set and then losing concentration and that’s exactly what happened today. At 4-2 down in the third set I suddenly got myself together and realised that I was going to lose if I didn’t do something, so I just tried to make as many balls as I could and he started to make errors. Concentration is something I’m really trying to work on with my coach Colin Beecher.”
Beecher, who will only work with Kasiri until the end of Wimbledon, has also tried to equip his charge with a bigger serve and greater consistency, both of which are standing him in good stead on the grass despite the fact that Kasiri says he would not describe himself a classical grass court player.
“People always assume that if you’re British you have a natural advantage but we don’t play on grass the rest of the year at all. I really like grass and having played on it for the last four weeks I feel very comfortable now but I don’t have a big serve and I tend to be happier at the baseline, so I’m not a typical grass court player at all.”
Tournament favourite, two-time junior grand slam winner Gael Monfils, who is top seed, remained on course for the title with a 63 64 win over Remko De Rijke of the Netherlands. He’ll play big serving American Brendan Evans in the last eight after Evans, now coached by Andy Roddick’s former mentor Tariq Benhabiles, beat GD Jones of New Zealand 62 61.
In the girls’ competition top seed Michaella Krajicek waltzed through to the last eight with a 62 62 win over Russia’s Irina Kotkina and plays unseeded Serbian Vojislava Lukic next. Israeli Australian Open champion Shahar Peer beat Romanian Agnes Szatmari 61 61 and takes on Katerina Bondarenko of the Ukraine in the quarters. Second seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova, Belarussian Viktoria Azarenka, Alisa Kleybanova of Russia and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia Montenegro all scored third round wins.
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