 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 06 Sep 2004 |
|
| 06 Sep 2004 - US Open, Flushing Meadows, New York - Eleanor Preston | |
| Monfils Begins Historic Title Tilt |
Gael Monfils took what he hopes will be his first step towards the junior grand slam on Monday when he beat Remko de Rijke of the Netherlands 46 63 64 in his opening match of the US Open juniors.
Having won the first three junior grand slams of 2004, Monfils could make history if he wins the title in Flushing Meadows and become the first boy since Stefan Edberg in 1983 to make it a clean sweep of grand slam trophies.
“I’m not going to put pressure on myself to do what Edberg did,” said Monfils, speaking in his native French. “Edberg is Edberg, I am Monfils.”
The 18-year-old has good reason to be philosophical. Since beating Britain’s Miles Kasiri in the Wimbledon final he has struggled to overcome an injury to his knee cap which sidelined him for six weeks and only allowed him back hitting on a tennis court a week ago. Despite his frustration at missing most of the American summer circuit , Monfils remained upbeat about his time away from the sport.
“I couldn’t play but I spent a lot of time watching tennis on the television and it made me realise a lot. I learned a lot about what I need to do on the court to make myself a better player. I may not have had the match practice but I was still improving my game.”
That could be bad news for the USA’s Phillip Simmonds, who he plays in the next round. Simmonds was a 64 75 winner over India’s Navdeep Singh.
Third seeded Briton Andrew Murray ran up the day’s most emphatic victory when he beat Juan Del Potro of Argentina 60 61. Murray’s younger brother Jamie also won with little trouble, beating Alexander Clayton of the US 61 63, and joining fellow Britons Kasiri, Tom Rushby and Jamie Baker in the second round.
There was more success for the ITF girls’ team when Romania’s Madalina Gojnea and Katerina Bondarenko of the Ukraine joined team-mates Viktoria Azarenka and Olga Govortsova, both of Belarus, in round two.
Last year’s finalist Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, seeded third this year, got her US Open campaign off to a flying start by beating Ayumi Morita of Japan 60 64 to set up a second round meeting with Olga Poutchkova of Belarus.
Krajicek left Flushing Meadows in tears a year ago after losing the final to the then World No.1 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium and will be keen to leave New York with better memories this time around.
The same could be said of Monfils, who went out in the second round twelve months ago. Few could have predicted that, one year on, he would have a place in history in his sights.
Related Articles
> Kuznetsov Leads American Charge At Flushing Meadows
> Monfils Goes For Grand Slam
^ Back to Top
|
