 Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |  Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 29 Dec 2004 |
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| 29 Dec 2004 - London - Faye Andrews | |
| 2005 Casablanca Cup |
The 2005 ITF Junior Circuit kicked off on 27 December at the first Grade A event of the 2005, the Copa Casablanca in Mexico.
Heading the fields are Orange Bowl finalist Donald Young from USA and top 10 ranked Yung-Jan Chan from Chinese Taipei. Also in the girls’ draw is defending champion Julia Cohen.
Hotly tipped to be the star of the show on the 2005 ITF Junior Circuit, Donald Young is already ranked 15, aged 15. After notching up some impressive results in the USA in December he will move into the top 10 in the first ranking of 2005, even without winning in Mexico, courtesy of the 18 year old boys leaving the rankings. However, a victory could move him up as far as No.2. So far he is holding up his side of the bargain, he has progressed through the first two rounds without problems and will take on fellow American Chris Chirico in the quarterfinals.
Argentina’s 16 year old Juan Martin del Potro, seeded second in Mexico, will be one of Young’s main rivals in 2005 and he has made a good start in the Casablanca Cup, scoring an emphatic double bagel 60 60 over Mexican Sergio Salinas in the first round.
Three boys’ seeds did not make it out of the first round, No.5 seed Jochen Schottler (GER), No.11 seed Peter Lucassen (NED) and No.13 seed Francisco Pozzi all fell at the first hurdle.
Mexico’s hopes lie in the hands of Miguel Reyes Varela who battled past Greece’s Vladimiros Mavropoulos 75 76(10) in the first round, before overcoming Peru’s Jose Carlos Tolentino with more ease 61 61.
Ten seeds made it through to the third round in the girls’ draw, but two who didn’t were No.2 seed Wen-Hsin Hsu (TPE) who lost to Germany’s Justine Ozga 61 64 in the second round, and last year’s runner up Maraike Biglmaier also from Germany, who was ousted by Mexican wild card Ana Paula De La Pena 64 62.
After a shaky start in the first round, top seed Chan found her form in the second round, dispatching Israel’s Ilana Agranovich 61 61. Defending champion Cohen took three sets to see off Mexican Valeria Pulido 63 46 62 in the second round, she was joined in the third round by Osaka Mayor’s Cup Grade A winner Caroline Wozniack from Denmark who defeated Great Britain’s Lara Fakhoury 57 61 61.
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