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Agnes Szavay (HUN)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Sam Querrey (USA)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Monica Niculescu (ROM)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Ayumi Morita (JPN)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Segei Bubka (UKR)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Philip Bester (CAN)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005

25 Jun 2005 - All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, Great Britain - Eleanor Preston

Lojda Bounces Out Bubka

Day one of Wimbledon 2005 saw leaden skies and cool weather but there was no shortage of excitement on the outside courts as the junior competition got underway. The boys’ tournament was barely an hour old before Czech wildcard Dusan Lojda had caused the first upset by beating Ukrainian seventh seed Sergei Bubka 64 64.

Remarkably, it was Lojda’s first ever competitive grass court match, though no-one watching on Court 15 at Wimbledon would have thought so given the ease with which he took the surface.

“I didn’t have many big problems even though it’s a bit different,” said Lojda afterwards, sounding a little surprised. “Obviously it’s not my favourite surface because I am really a clay-court player but we’ll have to see if it becomes my favourite after this week!”

Lojda highlighted his serve as his most destructive weapon against Bubka, with whom he practices regularly. “He’s a good friend of mine and we have been to dinner together, so I didn’t want to knock him out but I just tried to play as well as I could and I think he did the same. Everybody wants to be the best.”

Although his win over Bubka marked his first match on grass this isn’t Lojda’s first visit to Wimbledon. He visited with his family nine years ago and took a turn around the tournament’s museum; something which he admits is now the only thing he can remember about his trip. “I know we came to London and came to watch tennis but I don’t really remember which matches we saw, I just remember that I loved the museum” said Lojda. “I definitely want to visit there again before I go home.”

Ninth-seeded Australian Carsten Ball is also out, beaten 76 36 62 by Roland Garros boys’ runner-up Antal Van Der Duim of the Netherlands.

Other seeds fared better than Bubka during day one of the day’s competition. Tenth seed Samuel Querry of the USA came from a set down to beat Briton Scott Dickson 46 63 62. 14th seed Robin Haase of the Netherlands also came through a three-set tussle, defeating Canada’s Phillip Bester 64 67 63.

In the girls’ tournament, second seed Agnes Szavay picked up where she left in winning the junior title at Roland Garros by notching up her first Wimbledon win. Szavay, from Hungary, survived a potentially tricky first round draw by beating Ayumi Morita 64 76.

Fourteenth seed Monica Nicolescu scored an even quicker victory in beating Bolivian Maria-Fernandez Alvarez 63 61 to win her first match of the 2005 grass-court season. Nicolescu opted to miss the traditional junior warm-up event in Roehampton this year and while she admitted that it took her a while to find her rhythm on the surface, there were few signs of rustiness in the scoreline.

“Last year I made the semis in Roehampton and then had a really bad Wimbledon and I didn’t want that to happen this year, but it was very difficult today,” she said. “Grass is a really strange surface – whose idea was it to put this tournament on grass?”

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