 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 12 Sep 2004 |
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| 12 Sep 2004 - New York - Eleanor Preston | |
| Krajicek and Murray flourish in Flushing Meadows |
Michaella Krajicek and Andrew Murray stormed to emphatic victories in the US Open juniors on Saturday to win their debut junior grand slam titles.
Krajicek’s joy after beating American Jessica Kirkland 6-1, 6-1 was in sharp contrast to her tears of frustration after losing last year’s final to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens.
17 year old Briton Murray beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-2 in the boys’ final.
“Last year I was really disappointed I lost the final, even though I did well to get there, and this year I'm really happy I won,” said Krajicek. “I won the doubles yesterday, so I'm really glad I made two titles here. I think I was a lot more comfortable in the final because I was going with the feeling that I already did this last year, so I don't have to be nervous. I think that was important for me.”
Krajicek had to fight off two match-points in Saturday’s semi-finals and through the week put in a series of gritty performances to become the first Dutch girl to win the title in the tournament’s history and the first Dutch player to lift a junior title in New York since Sjeng Schalken won the boys’ crown in 1994.
“I think I improved a little bit more than last year physically and my serve is good,” said the 15-year-old. “I hope that next year I will play here in the qualifiers or main draw in the US Open.”
Murray, who comes from Dunblane in Scotland and trained at the same academy in Spain as US Open women’s champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, was the first Briton to win a junior Grand Slam title since James Baily won the Australian Open boys’ trophy in 1993.
Murray missed much of the first half of the season with tendinitis in his knee and only returned to action during the grass court season in June. Hard work after Wimbledon, when he returned to Spain to put hours in on the practice court, paid off in spectacular style once he got onto Flushing Meadows’ hard-courts.
“I just couldn't believe I had won,” said Murray. “To win a junior Grand Slam after being out of tennis for so long is a big thing for me. I've only been playing again for two and a half, three months. When I won, it just felt unbelievable. I think when I was out injured, it made me mentally stronger because before, everything had been given to me, everything was really easy. But after that, obviously it was really difficult to come back from an injury. I got physically stronger as well because I did a lot of work on my upper body while I was out. That's helped me the last few weeks.”
Neither Krajicek nor Murray had much time to celebrate their victories. Krajicek had to make do with SMS text messages on her phone and e-mails from her friends, at least until she got home to Holland. Murray headed back to the UK to pick up a flight to Spain to join Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in the Great Britain Davis Cup squad at its training camp in La Manga.
Henman has acted as something of a mentor to Murray this week and with a nation desperate to find a replacement for the 30-year-old at the top of the sport, the teenager is under pressure to emulate him.
“I've been compared to him a lot, which is great,” said Murray. “To be compared to someone who's been in the Top 10 for six or seven years, go into the second week of Grand Slams, is great fun. Just now I’m nowhere near as good as Tim. Obviously, I'm just at the bottom of the ladder and I need to try and work my way up. I think I can do it.”
Like Krajicek, he found New York to be the perfect place to start.
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