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Erika Sema (JPN)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Holden Seguso (USA)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Olga Govortsova (BLR)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Ekaterina Kosminskaya (RUS)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Jesse Levine (USA)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2005

05 Sep 2005 - Flushing Meadows - Eleanor Preston

King Reigns on Day Two in New York

Vania King’s address in California may be thousands of miles from Flushing Meadows but, following her 60 60 first round rout of Canada’s Jillian O’Neill, the 16-year-old said she was feeling more at home with every hour she spends at the US Open.

“I’ve been coming here for three years and each year I’ve done something new and got to know the place a bit more,” explained King. “When I first came here I played qualifying in the juniors and then last year I played main draw of juniors for the first time and this year I played the qualifying competition for the women’s event. I really feel like I am progressing and I feel very comfortable here.”

King, seeded tenth, was certainly untroubled by O’Neill and will be a difficult proposition for American wildcard Madison Brengle, who hails from Delaware. King, who successfully qualified for the women’s main draw before losing to France’s Nathalie Dechy in the first round, was quick to play down the problems many players have in reverting to the juniors after tasting life in the seniors.

“It’s actually easier to go back to the juniors because you’ve played at a higher level and so your tennis is in good shape,” she said. “I’d love to win here. If I can keep my cool and I play the kind of tennis I have been, then I think I can do well.”

Girls’ Top seed Australian Open junior champion Viktoria Azarenka made an equally smooth transition back to the juniors after recently playing in the qualifying rounds of the WTA Tour event in New Haven. The Belarussian began her junior US Open campaign in style on Monday with a 62 61 win over Alexandra Panova of Russia.

“It doesn’t make sense to me because I just play the same way in juniors as I do on the WTA Tour. The courts in New Haven were the same so I feel like I’ve played a lot on these courts and that helped me today,” said Azarenka, who plays Czech Republic Katerina Kramperova next. “I played really well. It’s always good to play well in your first match because the early rounds are always difficult. It would be really great to win the last grand slam of the year and I’d like to do it in doubles as well because then I’d have two junior grand slams in singles and four grand slams in doubles and that would give me lots of confidence going into the pros.”

In other results, American Mary Gambale, seeded eighth, and New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic both netted straight sets wins, while the only upset on the girls’ side was the 64 64 defeat of Japan’s Ayumi Morita, seeded twelfth, at the hands of Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Three upsets marked day two of the boys’ competition, which saw the first round defeats of seeds Carsten Ball of Australia, Andre Miele of Brazil and Niels Desein of Belgium. Ball was beaten 26 63 76 by Ryan Sweeting of the Bahamas; Miele lost 64 46 61 to American Matt Bruch and Desein was a 64 64 victim of the USA’s Holden Seguso, who is the son of tennis legends Robert Seguso and Carling Bassett Seguso.

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