 Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |  Photographer: Daniel Maurer
Date: 05 Aug 2004 |
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| 05 Aug 2004 - TK Prostejov, Czech Republic - Neil Robinson | |
| Defending Champions Czech Out Of Girls Event |
It was a day of high drama in Prostejov as the Czech and British boys and the girls from Belarus and Austria qualified for their respective finals, which will take place on Saturday.
A new name will appear on the girls' World Junior Tennis trophy after Austria and Belarus reached the final, both dropping the first rubber before coming back to win the deciding doubles in two thrilling ties.
The most exciting tie was the semifinal between Austria and the Czech Republic, which Austria eventually won 2-1 after a total of seven and a half hours of play, across the three rubbers.
Unbeaten Andrea Berkova got the host nation off to a great start in the opening singles rubber and soon led 6-1 3-1. Melanie Klaffner took full advantage of the new balls to go 5-3 ahead but Berkova regrouped and reeled off four games for victory in just over two hours.
Nikola Hofmanova drew first blood for Austria in the second singles, when she took a very tight first set on the tiebreak, having served for it at 5-4. Petra Mokra, the Czech No.1, hit back to take the second, recovering from 3-5 down, before the real drama unfolded. At 4-4 in the third set, a hole appeared behind the baseline and play was stopped, while an attempt to repair the court was made.
With this proving to be impossible, play was switched to Centre Court, where the crowd, who had just witnessed the Czech boys’ victory over Italy, got behind Mokra, led by some of the Czech boys’ team banging a drum. Two service breaks apiece followed to bring the score to 6-6, with Hofmanova saving a match point, for good measure. Then, it was Mokra’s turn to save a match point when serving at 6-7. The Czech began to lose her composure as Hofmanovacontinued to go for the lines and strike some telling drives. Finally, when leading 8-7, the Austrian broke to take the three-hour marathon.
All four players were back on court for the doubles, which was also a marathon. The Czech pair took the first on a tiebreak but the Austrians hit back to force a third set.Hofmanova and Klaffner quickly gained the upper hand, surging to a 5-1 lead but the Czechs broke back twice, saving three match points. Finally in the fourteenth game of the final set, Austria broke on their fifth match point to advance to the final against Belarus.
Belarus reached their first World Junior Tennis semifinal when they overcame top seeded Slovak Republic in the girls’ event. Slovak Kristina Kucova notched her sixth victory from six with a 75 60 victory over Belarusian No.2 Ima Bohush, in a game in which both players struggled to hold serve consistently.
Belarus’ No.1 Ksenia Milevskaya, put her team back in contention with a 60 26 61 victory over her Slovak counterpart, Klaudia Boczova, winning the last five games to maintain her 100% singles record.
It all came down to the doubles with Boczova teaming up with Martina Balogova against Bohush and Milevskaya. Belarus stormed into a 5-2 lead in the first set before being pegged back to 5-5. With some good doubles play, the Belarusian pair then swept eight of the next nine games to seal the tie.
In contrast to the girls’ semifinals, both boys’ contests were decided in the singles. The Czech boys delighted the Centre Court crowd by ousting Italy in Thursday’s semifinals to qualify for Saturday’s final, while Britain were in control of their encounter with Thailand from the outset.
Jan Trocil recorded his third victory of the week as he defeated Davide Della Tommasina 62 63. After dropping his opening service game, he won eight games in a row and then maintained that advantage to take the match.
Emanuel Rehola quickly found himself a set down as Italy’s Daniele Piludu continued his impressive form when taking the first set 6-0. Rehola quickly established a 4-1 lead in the second set as the crowd volume increased. Piludu broke back but lost his own serve to leave Rehola serving for the second set at 5-3. Piludu came back to 5-5 but Rehola prevailed in a tiebreak, saving a match point in the process to level the match. Piludu broke immediately at the start of third set but from then on, battled in vain as Rehola took six games to clinch the match and end Piludu’s unbeaten run.
The Czech boys will now contest their second World Junior Tennis final, having been runners-up to South Africa in 1997. However, this is the first time that they have reached the final since the final was held in Prostejov, so will benefit from home support.
Great Britain’s boys’ became the first team to claim their place in the final when Daniel Cox defeated Kittipong Wachiramanowong 75 64 to put GB 2-0 ahead.
Lewis Barnes reeled off nine straight games from 3-3 in the first set to see off the challenge of Peerapach Tupwong in the opening singles rubber with a 63 60 victory. Tupwong was showing the after effects of his three-set battle yesterday and could not produce his best form.
Cox maintained his unbeaten record when he recovered from 2-4 down in the second set, having edged a tight first set to see his team through to the final. Britain will bid for their second World Junior Tennis in Saturday’s final against the host
Teams involved in the play offs for 5th-12th places will play on Friday with 13th –16th places being decided on Saturday, along with the destination of the 2004 World Junior Tennis Trophies.
Today's results and updated drawsheet can be seen in the attached pdf.
Related Articles
> Great Britain Stuns France To Reach Last Four
> Surprises Continue At World Junior Tennis Final
> Czechs Spring Surprise On Opening Day
> Draw Ceremony Takes Place For 2004 World Junior Tennis Final
> Prostejov Promises Exciting Week
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