 Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 14 Dec 2004 |
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| 14 Dec 2004 - Key Biscayne, FL - Tim Curry | |
| Knee injury forces Bondarenko out of Orange Bowl |
Last week Katerina Bondarenko’s bid to finish the year as the world’s top ranked junior tennis player came to an end when she was upset in the third round of the USTA International Winter Championships by Elizabeth Plotkin. Monday, she lost her shot to win the Orange Bowl after an injury forced the tournament’s No. 1 seed to retire during a first round match against Vania King in which Bondarenko failed to win a game and trailed, 6-0, 3-0.
The Wimbledon girls’ champion got treatment during the first set and said the pain below her knee began yesterday and kept her up most of the night.
In the Boys’ 18s, the top two seeded players, Sun Yong Kim and Mihail Zverev respectively, had the day off after meeting in the final of the USTA International Winter Championships on Sunday (Zverev defeated Kim 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 for the title) and will play their first round matches on Tuesday.
That left No. 3 Rafael Arevalo of El Salvador as the highest seeded player competing in the Boys’ 18s on Monday. Arevalo, who made his Orange Bowl debut last year, losing in the Round of 16 to eventual champion Marcos Baghdatis in singles and winning the Boys’ 18s doubles title with countryman Jamie Cuellar, won an intense match against Morocco’s Reda El Amrani, 6-3, 6-1, during which El Amrani broke three racquets and picked up four code violations.
“I was playing good, much better than last week (a quarterfinal loss to Tim Smyczek at the IWC),” said Arevalo, who will face Jonathan Boym in the second round on Tuesday. “My opponent went a little crazy. I’m not sure what was going on with him.”
Arevalo, a member of the El Salvadorian Davis Cup team, won his seventh ITF Junior title this summer at the Canadian Open and earned two ATP points this fall while playing Future-level events in Mexico. Recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him sidelined for two weeks recently, Arevalo says his confidence increases with each match as his fitness level rises.
The reigning Orange Bowl 16s champions, Americans Donald Young and Alex Glatch, won their debuts in the 18s draws. Young, seeded fifth, rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the third set to beat Carsten Ball in a rollercoaster of a match 0-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5). Glatch had an easier go at it, dispatching Sharon Fishman, 7-5, 6-3, but will now face No. 5 seed Marina Erakovic in the second round.
Young is attempting to become the first reigning Orange Bowl Boys’ 16s champion to win the 18s title the following year since Jim Courier accomplished the feat in 1987. Elena Dementienva was the last player to win both the Orange Bowl Girls’ 16s and 18s titles, taking the top prize in 1996 and 1998, respectively.
Courier is at the Orange Bowl this year working on a film project. Baghdatis is also here this week celebrating the completion of his first full season on the professional circuit with players from the academy where he trains. He ended the year No. 159 in the ATP Entry Rankings after reaching the second round at the Athens Olympics (l. to Nicolas Keifer) and following his Grand Slam debut at the US Open, where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer – the 1998 Orange Bowl champion.
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