 Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 20 May 2005 |  Photographer: Francesco Panunzio
Date: 19 May 2005 |  Photographer: Francesco Panunzio
Date: 19 May 2005 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 20 May 2005 | | |
|
| 20 May 2005 - Helen McFetridge | |
| Italian favourites cause upsets |
There was delight for the home fans in Milan yesterday as Italians Corinna Dentoni and Sara Errani both knocked out seeds to reach the quarter finals of the Italian Junior Open. Errani, the fourteenth seed, easily defeated second seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova, 6-1 6-3. Errani has been in good form recently, reaching the final of her last two ITF junior tournaments and dropping just six games in her first three matches in Milan. She will be hoping to continue her impressive run in the quarter finals, when she takes on eleventh seeded Romanian Raluca Olaru, who ended the fine run of Italian wild card Roxana Vaideanu with a 6-3 2-6 6-4 win. That will be no easy task as Olaru is also in good form, having won a $10,000 ITF Women’s Circuit event on clay a few weeks ago and reaching the semi-finals of the junior event in Santa Croce last week.
The winner of the clash between Errani and Olaru will fancy their chances of making the final as they will be up against the last remaining unseeded player in the draw, either Renee Reinhard (NED) or wild card Corinna Dentoni, in the semi finals. However, 71st-ranked Reinhard defeated Errani to win the 30th City of Florence International Tournament in March, so the seeded players can’t afford to get complacent. Dentoni, ranked 82, will also be feeling confident after she caused the upset of the day by beating fourth seed Vania King (USA) in straight sets, 6-3 6-4. Dentoni has knocked out two seeds so far in this tournament, and has yet to drop a set, so she will definitely be in with a chance of making the semi finals. Like Errani and Olaru, Dentoni and Reinhard have never played each other before, and both Italians will be hoping they can make home advantage count.
Italian success did not extend to the boys’ event, and there was huge disappointment as Milan-born Andrea Arnaboldi went down in three sets to sixth seeded Carsten Ball of the USA. This had been the most eagerly awaited quarter final match-up, as Ball is ranked eight places higher but Arnaboldi had been in superb form in his native Italy, winning both his previous junior tournaments there this year. The match did not disappoint, turning out to be as close as everyone had anticipated, with Arnaboldi winning the first set 6-3, Ball hitting back to take the second 6-2 and the third going right to the wire before Ball edged it 6-4. Arnaboldi was the last Italian representative in the boys’ singles, so home hopes now rest on the girls’ shoulders.
Ball will be hoping to take advantage of the fact that top seed Donald Young and number three Sergei Bubka have already been knocked out of his half of the draw, leaving him as the highest ranked player left. He next takes on fifteenth seed Ryan Sweeting of the Bahamas, who defeated Ball’s fellow American Alex Clayton 6-4 6-3. In the other quarter final, seventh seed Niels Desein (BEL) takes on unseeded Moroccan Anas Fattar, a 7-5 6-4 winner over fourteenth seed Luis Henrique Grangeiro of Brazil.
^ Back to Top
|
