 Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |
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| 07 Dec 2005 - Key Biscayne, Fla. - Tim Curry | |
| Sweeting Bows Out of Orange Bowl and Race for Year-End No. 1 Ranking |
What began as a three person race for the top spot in the year-end ITF World Junior Rankings is down to two boys after world No. 3 Ryan Sweeting of the Bahamas retired in the third set of his first round singles match Tuesday at the Orange Bowl International in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Sweeting succumbed to both the pressure of the situation and the elements, leaving No. 1 Donald Young of the United States and No. 2 Marin Cilic of Croatia in contention for the 2005 ITF World Junior Champion title. If either player wins the Orange Bowl International on Sunday they will capture the year-end No. 1 ranking along with the traditional crystal ball filled with oranges.
The top five seeds in the girls' draw all won their opening matches Tuesday. No. 5 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was the only player in the group to be extended to three sets while No. 3 Dominika Cibulkova of the Slovak Republic showed the form that earned her the Eddie Herr International title two days earlier when she recorded a double bagel over Jessica Sweeting (no relation to Ryan), also of the Bahamas.
Ryan, the reigning US Open boys' singles champion, took the first set againt qualifier Paris Gemouchidis of Greece but began to cramp in the second set. He asked for a medical timeout before the start of the third set and had his hamstrings stretched by the trainer before throwing in the towel midway through the set.
"The first set I played really well, but I could start to feel the fatigue setting in at the beginning of the second set and at 3-1 in the third I couldn’t go on," said Sweeting. "(Fatigue) had never been an issue before. I think it was a combination of things: the pressure, the nerves, the humidity and probably not drinking enough fluids before the match."
Following the match, Sweeting was taken to the hospital via ambulance where he received medical treatment. He returned to the site to play doubles, but was relieved to find out that an early afternoon rain shower forced the cancellation of doubles for the day.
Sweeting's loss, coupled with the retirement of No. 7 seed Kellen Damico on Monday appears to have opened up the bottom half of the draw for Cilic. No. 5 seed Timothy Neilly, who defeated Young to win the Orange Bowl title last year, still looms as a potential semifinal oppoent for Cilic, who handled Russian Pavel Chekhov, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in his first round match. Cilic was standing at match point in the tiebreaker when the contest was suspended for over two hours due to the rain delay, but finished off Chekhov on the first point after the break to win his 13th consecutive match on the ITF Circuit.
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