 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 24 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jan 2005 |
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| 25 Jan 2005 - Melbourne, Australia - Eleanor Preston | |
| Things hot up on Day 2 in Australia |
Rising US star Donald Young is not short of ambition. The 15-year-old is hoping to make his mark on the Australian Open in a big way – and says nothing less than winning the title and grabbing the World No.1 ranking will do. Young, who is making his debut in Melbourne, plays Australia’s Patrick Nichols in the second round but winning that match is only first stage of his plan.
“The aim for me is always to win the tournament, particularly the grand slams, no different here,” said Young. “I like it here. I like the courts because they take topspin well and they seem to make my serve harder to deal with. When I was younger I watched this tournament a lot, even though there were times when I was in school and I had to stay up until one in the morning. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go and play at. Now that I’m here I’ve realised that it’s the best grand slam in a lot of ways.”
Young currently stands at No.2 in the rankings behind Korea’s Sun-Yong Kim and he knows that a good run here in Melbourne will secure a place at No.1 so he has plenty of motivation against Nichols.
“There are only a few points in it at the moment and so I know it’s not far away,” said Young, who travelled to Australia with his parents. “My big aim for the year is to end the season as World No.1 and winning this tournament would get me a long way towards that goal.
Young will face stiff competition for the title from Kim, who is already through to the third round after a 6-2, 7-6 win over Antal Van Duim of the Netherlands. Orange Bowl champion Tim Neilly, a compatriot of Young’s, is also mounting an impressive challenge for the title. Neilly beat another American, Marcus Fugate 6-2, 6-4 to earn his third round spot.
The boys’ draw opened up somewhat on Tuesday with defeat for seeds Chu-Huan Yi of Tapei (seeded fifth), Olexander Dolgopolov of the Ukraine and Denmark’s Martin Pedersen.
In the girls’ singles Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova set up a fascinating third round match up against Belarussian top seed Victoria Azarenka by easing past Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 7-5.
“It’s very early in the tournament to be playing Azarenka because it might have been a semi-final or a final match, but I’m seeded pretty low so it’s not really surprising,” said Kleybanova. “She’s a very, very good player and it’s going to be really hard to play her.”
Kleybanova had to shrug off blisteringly hot on court temperatures to beat Cirstea and afterwards said she was pleasantly surprised at how her fitness held up.
“I’m actually really pleased with how well I coped with the conditions but I don’t mind the heat too much. I was running a lot in my match but I was okay, and that’s a really good sign for me because it means my fitness work is paying off.”
In other results in the girls’ competition, Marina Erakovic of New Zealand kept her title tilt on track by beating Australia’s Michelle Brycki in straight sets, while sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada and Yung-Jan Chan of Taipei both scored wins.
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