 Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 09 Dec 2005 | | | | | |
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| 09 Dec 2005 - Key Biscayne, FL - Tim Curry | |
| Botti Upsets Cilic, Radwanska Avenges US Open Loss to Plotkin |
Poland's Agniezska Radwanska and France's Kevin Botti led their respective nations to the Junior Fed Cup and Junior Davis Cup titles two months ago. Now the two 16-year-olds are enjoying individual glory at the 59th Annual Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships at the Crandon Park Tennis Center.
Radwanska, the reigning Wimbledon singles champion, came to Key Biscayne with high expectations as the No. 1 seed in the girls draw. On Thursday, she avenged a loss to American Elizabeth Plotkin at the US Open in three sets then turned back No. 15 seed Roxane Vaisemberg, 7-5, 6-0, in the third round.
Botti, on the other hand, was hoping to make a name for himself having never won a match at a Grade A event before this week and coming off of a semifinal appearance at last week's Eddie Herr International. He wound up posting the biggest upset of the tournament and ended the race for the top spot in the ITF boys' rankings with a straight sets win over No. 2 Marin Cilic in the third round, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
"This is the biggest win in my career," said Botti, through interpretation of his Junior Davis Cup coach, Alois Beust. "I did not think about ending the race for the No. 1 ranking. Instead I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity I had against a top player."
A notoriously fierce competitor, Botti held off four set points in the second set against Cilic at 5-4 before forcing the tiebreaker. He also saved three match points in his first round win over No. 13 seed Christian Vitulli.
Cilic's loss resulted in Donald Young becoming the youngest boy to end the year No. 1 in the world. At 16 years, 5 months, Young will be a month younger than Richard Gasquet when he claimed the ITF World Champion title in 2002.
Young struggled in his second round match against Alberto Gonzalez, winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 before eliminating No. 16 seed Nikola Mektic, 7-6 (2), 6-3 later in the day. He will face No. 9 Robin Roshardt in the quarterfinals.
No. 5 Timothy Neilly, who defeated Young in the Orange Bowl final last year, is the only seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw. He will face qualifier Paris Gemouchidis in the quarterfinals to play either Botti or wild card Wil Spencer.
The No. 2 seed in the girls draw also lost Thursday as Romania's Raluca Olaru was ousted by Khrystyna Antoniychuk in the second round , 6-4, 6-2. The Ukrainian then handled unseeded Lauren Albanese in straight sets and will face No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. The winner of that match will face either No. 3 Dominika Cibulkova or No. 7 Alisa Kleybanova in semifinals on Saturday.
In all, six of the top eight seeds in the girls' draw advanced to the quarterfinals. The top half of the draw features No. 1 Agniezska Radwanska against No. 8 Michaela Buzarnescu and No. 4 Alexandra Dulgheru taking on wild card Courtney Clayton.
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