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Marin Cilic (CRO) Osaka Mayors Cup Boys Champion 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2005

Viktoria Azarenka (BLR) Osaka Mayors Cup Girls Champion 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 14 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2005

Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 14 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 14 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 12 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 14 Oct 2005

Photographer: Hiromasa Mano
Date: 18 Oct 2005

18 Oct 2005 - Will Fletcher

Azarenka Adds Osaka Mayor's Cup To Trophy Haul

The whirlwind that is Viktoria Azarenka has just increased velocity as the Belarusian hurricane blew through the draw in Osaka to reconfirm her status once again as the strongest force on the ITF Junior Circuit this year.

On Sunday the sixteen year old from Minsk lifted the Osaka Mayor’s Cup after outplaying Ayumi Morita in front of her opponent’s home crowd 64 62. However, this was merely business as usual and serves mainly to extend her unreachable lead at the top of the ITF Junior rankings and confirm her position as year-end no.1. Azarenka will add this Grade A trophy to her Australian Open and US Open victories as well as her three grand slam doubles triumphs at Melbourne Park, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

The girls’ no.1 made light work of the opposition until she met Romania’s Raluca Olaru in the semifinals. Azarenka lost a total of eight games in her first four matches beating the likes of Maya Gaverova (RUS) and Erika Sema (JPN) with ease. Olaru provided a timely test pushing the Belarusian to three sets but the top seed came back strongly to book her place in the final with a 63 36 62 victory.

Ayumi Morita also played fluently all week and did not drop a set en route to the final. Many predicted that second seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki would be Azarenka’s final obstacle but Morita promptly ended that speculation with a 62 75 semifinal win, avenging her third round defeat to the Dane at this event last year, and carrying her through to her first Grade A final.

While Donald Young (USA) and Ryan Sweeting (BAH) did battle at the Grade 1 Chanda Rubin Pan American Closed Championships in USA, the other two junior boys fighting for the year end no.1 position and the title of Junior World Champion came head to head in the final of the boys’ singles. Marin Cilic of Croatia and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy have met twice previously this year both winning one a piece; Cilic winning 76(7) 64 in the second round of Australian Open and Chardy winning more recently 46 64 62 at the quarterfinal stage of the US Open. Both players have won a grand slam this year, ironically the booming serve of the big hitting Croat carrying him to success at Roland Garros while the Frenchman’s impressive all round game putting him on the roll of honour at Wimbledon. This encounter was as closely fought as the previous ones but Cilic asserted himself at the critical points of the match and orchestrated a 64 64 victory over his new doubles partner.

Neither finalist was severely tested before they met with the exception of Chardy during his quarterfinal tussle with Japan’s Yuichi Sugita. The 161st ranked player got closest to disrupting the Wimbledon Champion’s progress to the final taking the first set and then forcing the Frenchman to raise and maintain his level of play to win a difficult match 46 64 75. Chardy then got back to business with an authoritative win over promising 15 year old Kei Nishikori (JPN) 63 64 in the semifinals. Meanwhile Cilic was untroubled by James Lemke of Australia in the last eight and Sho Aida of Japan in the semifinals, winning both in straight sets to reach the final.

Following this tournament Cilic is now ranked second in the world while Chardy is close behind in third. Both players added to their singles points with a victory in the boys’ doubles as the formidable pair defeated the accomplished Czech duo of Roman Jebavy and Jiri Kosler 75 63 in the final. In the meantime the top Japanese girls’ pairing of Morita and Sema beat their compatriots Akari Inoue and Yurina Koshino 63 61 to claim the girls’ doubles title.

While the Osaka Mayor’s Cup is almost certainly the final ITF Junior trophy we will see Viktoria Azarenka win as she basks in the glory of her unassailable lead at the top of the girls’ ranking list, the top junior boys still have all to play for. No doubt Cilic and Chardy will continue on their quest for points as they attempt to reel in Australian Open Champion Donald Young’s lead and fend off the challenge of US Open victor Ryan Sweeting (ranked no.4) in the run up to the new year.

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