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 Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 09 Aug 2005 |
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| 08 Aug 2005 - Prostejov, CZE - James Harrisson / Isabelle Gemmel | |
| World Junior Tennis Finals 2005 - Round up day one |
Play got underway today at the 15th World Junior Tennis Final in TK Prostejov in the Czech Republic.
The day began with the opening ceremony. The teams, all wearing their national colours, held a procession onto court no.1, followed by speeches from some of the Czech Republic’s prominent figures in sport. A parachute jump had been scheduled, in which the flags of the Czech Republic and the ITF were to be brought down from the skies with a bottle of champagne to open the event, but it had to be called off at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions.
Fortunately, tennis is a sport that can take place in much harsher weather than parachuting. So, as the sun fought it’s way through the clouds and a chilly wind blew, the girls’ event got underway. In the round robin events, top seed Russia had a good start in the competition with a 3-0 win over Mexico. Elena Kulikova had some difficulties in the first set in the opening singles match that she won 74 in the tiebreak. She then gained control over the match, only conceding one more game to Alejandra Granillo. Russian number one, Anastasia Pavlyuchnkova, easily beat Pamela Montez 62 62 to give Russia the victory after the singles.
Second seed USA scored a clear victory over ousider Algeria. It is the first time Algeria have ever participated in the World Junior Finals and the girls, playing for coach Warda Bouchabou, could not put up much opposition. Both singles and the doubles went in straight sets to the USA.
China is the only country of the top three seeds to have dropped a singles match today. In what promised to be the closest girls’ tie of the day, Ting Li lost the opening match of the tie against Linda Berlinecke of Germany, 64 61. The German defended well and benefited from a large number of unforced errors from Ting Li.
Yia-Miao Zhou then levelled the tie by winning in straight sets against Stefanie Mikesz, 64 60. The deciding doubles was hard-fought and the third set had to bring about a decision and it was China who were the eventual victors 46 62 64.
Croatia started well into the competition with a convincing 3-0 win over the Republic of Korea. Neither Indire Akiki nor Petra Martic lost a set in their singles against Yun-Hee Kim and So-Yeon Kim respectively.
The only seed to lose on the opening day was eighth seed Chile. The Chilean girls lost to Australia after being defeated in both of the singles matches. The doubles match was played and won by the South Americans, but they still lost the overall tie 2-1.
In the boys’ event, top seeded USA took on South Africa in group one. American Blake Davis faced southern hemisphere opposition in the shape of Grant Ive. It was the Texan, Davis, who took the first set by a single break 64. Ive then raised his game in the second set, which saw some impressively long and varied rallies, to take the second set 63. However, the South African was unable to keep this momentum in his favour and Davis took the deciding set easily by a margin of six games to two.
In the second rubber of the tie, USA number one, Chase Buchanan, met his South African counterpart, James Munro in a much-anticipated match. The first set saw some lengthy, hard-fought games, which resulted in several service breaks. Buchanan took the set 62, although many games could have gone either way. The second set was closer, but a difference in class became apparent as The American cruised to victory, taking the second set 64 and giving the USA a 2-0 win.
Also in group one, Japan took on the home favourites, Czech Republic on Centre court. In the opening match, Michal Kozelsky took on the Japanese number two, Ko Suzuki, but failed to make his mark on the match. After taking the first set without losing a game, Suzuki dropped only two games in the next, winning the match before Kozelsky could try to turn things around. Czech Radim Urbanek, current number one in the Tennis Europe ranking list, then came on court and made short work of Shuichi Sekiguchi. The Japanese number one dropped serve twice at the beginning of the first set and, despite a late effort, was unable to stage a comeback, losing 26. Urbanek then easily completed the victory, winning the second set 61. Both teams then made a substitution for the doubles match. Suzuki teamed up with Takeshi Endo for Japan and Urbanek played with Marek Rastica. The opening set reached 5 games apiece before the Japanese won a vital break, and managed to hold serve to win 75. In the second set the upset was complete, as the Japanese went a service break up and took the set 64, winning the tie 2-1.
Fourth seeds Bulgaria faced an Argentina team who have all tasted recent success on the South American COSAT circuit. Nicolas Pastor (ARG) took some of this form into his first match, beating Tsvetan Mihov 63 62. In the match between the no.1 players, Argentine Juan Vazquez faced recently crowned European Champion, Grigor Dimitrov. The first two sets could hardly separate the players, with Dimitrov taking the first 75 then narrowly losing the second 46. In the decider, it was the Bulgarian who found an edge over his opponent, using his strong single-handed backhand to devastating effect and taking winning 62. In the doubles tie, Pastor played with Guido Andreozzi against Mihov and Dimitrov and it was the unseeded Argentines who took the match in two sets, 63 63, to win the tie 2-1.
Third seeds Brazil had an early scare, when Lucas Thomaz was easily beaten by Miguel Almeida, 63 60. Brazilian Jose Pereira, however, levelled the tie when he overcame Martim Trueva in straight sets, 62 64. Thomaz and Pereira then teamed up in the doubles rubber against Trueva and his compatriot Pedro Palha. The tie was eventually decided after two nail-biting tie breaks, both of which were taken by the Brazilians.
Number two seeds Belgium cruised through their first round match against Mexico. Jeremy Bonnevalle beat Mauricio Astorga 61 61 and Yannick Reuter took the second rubber after his Mexican opponent, Manuel Sanchez was forced to retire. The score at the end of play was 63 20 ret.
In the rest of the day’s ties, Russia beat Korea 2-0 and Australia overcame Ecuador by the same scoreline. The last game to finish was between France and Chinese Taipei, which was eventually won by France, as they came from behind won the doubles 26 75 63.
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