 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2005 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Jun 2005 | |
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| 05 Jun 2005 - Roland Garros, Paris - Eleanor Preston | |
| Cilic and Szavay crowned king and queen of clay |
Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Hungary’s Agnes Szavay reigned in the Roland Garros junior finals on Sunday when they picked up debut junior grand slam titles with emphatic wins.
Cilic whipped past Holland’s Antal Van der Duim 6-3, 6-1, while Szavay was equally convincing in her 6-1, 6-1 win over Romania’s Raluca-Ioana Olaru.
Szavay, who joined forces with Viktoria Azarenka to beat Olaru and Amina Rakhim to win the girls’ doubles title on Saturday, is only the second Hungarian to win a junior grand slam title – the first was Aniko Kapros, who was Australian Open girls’ champion in 2000.
Despite the massive occasion for the 16-year-old, Szavay showed no sign of nerves as she took an early break of serve in the first set, setting the tone for what turned out to be a one-sided victory. “I was a little bit nervous but I think it’s normal,” she revealed afterwards. “I played very good I think and I could do what I talked about with my coach before: tactics and my shots and my serve, everything was okay.”
“It’s a grand slam final but this is the second time for me after I lost the first one in Australia, so I was relaxed too,” she added. “I think maybe she was more nervous than me. I hope this is a big step for me. It’s really good feeling and now I know all the other juniors will be looking at me, saying, ‘she won Roland Garros’.”
Szavay, who trains in Budapest, was cheered on by her parents, who flew in from in time to watch their daughter win the doubles title and were overjoyed when she made it a brace of Roland Garros titles.
Cilic was equally composed in his victory over Van der Duim. He racked up an imposing lead early on and only when he went to serve for the first set at 5-1 up did he show any sign of vulnerability. It proved to be only a temporary reprieve for Van der Duim though and the Croatian took the set at the second time of asking. Another break of serve at the start of the second set proved to be a body blow from which Van der Duim could not recover.
“This feels great,” said Cilic. “It doesn’t feel like I expected it to feel. It’s great emotion. You have to believe in yourself but I didn’t believe at the beginning of the tournament that I was going to win but after a few matches, it was real that I could win.”
Like Szavay, Cilic was quick to point out the impact of winning a junior Grand Slam title. “It’s a very big thing for me because it’s one more step towards professional tennis. It’s helping me to improve my game and other people notice you after you win one, of course.”
Cilic was unseeded at Roland Garros but dropped only one set en route to the title. He put his success down to an inner strength that belies his 16 years.
“It’s my character,” said Cilic, who knocked out top seed Andrew Murray in the semi-finals. “All the things I keep inside of me, maybe it’s better like that than to shout and yell. I keep it inside of me so that the opponent doesn’t know what’s happening.”
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