 Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 29 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 28 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 28 Jan 2006 |
|
| 29 Jan 2006 - Melbourne Park - Eleanor Preston | |
| Sidorenko And Pavlyuchenkova Score Debut Wins In Melbourne |
France’s Alexandre Sidorenko and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova picked up debut junior grand slam singles titles after two compelling finals at Melbourne Park.
Sidorenko – who boasts Russian parentage – beat Australia’s Nick Lindahl 63 76 coming from 2-5 down in the second set and sneaking through a close tiebreaker to wrap the match up in straight sets.
“It's very wonderful,” said Sidorenko. “I have no words to explain this. It's like a dream for me also to win a Grand Slam - in the juniors, but it's a Grand Slam. So for me, it's very nice. I'm very happy today.”
Sidorenko required treatment early in the second set after feeling the onset of cramps in both legs, brought on by the hot, humid conditions out on the Margaret Court Arena. A short massage did the trick, however, and gave him the stamina to pursue his second set fight back.
Sidorenko wasn’t ranked high enough to get into the main draw of the juniors and needed a special exemption from the ITF to be able to play, which he received after reaching the doubles final at the junior warm-up event in Nottinghill last week. Not surprisingly, he was delighted that he made the trip to Melbourne, where he won the title without the benefit of a seeding.
“Before I came to Australia, my ranking was like 130 on the ITF rankings. Now I think I will be second or first. So in a month, it's a good progress, huh (smiling)? If I can progress like this on ATP, it will be nice. I’ll come every time to Australia if it will always be like this! Before my semifinals in doubles at that previous tournament, the referee said to me, if you win you have a special exempt. If you lose, you play qualies. And the semifinal, I won 7 6 in the third set - so you can imagine how nervous I was.”
Sidorenko, aged 17, is coached by his father Valery, who is a former coach of Russia’s Olympic handball team, and played the sport before he took up tennis, but for a small twist of fate he might never have taken up tennis at all. I played handball from when I was four, then when I was eight, I took up tennis because it was a club near the handball club, so I go there for trying play like two times by week. And after I like it and I stop the handball and continue tennis.”
Fourteen-year-old Pavlyuchenkova also had to pull off something of a comeback in her 16 62 63 win over top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The Russian was a set and 0-2 down before clawing her way back into the match to extend her unbeaten run in Australia to 18 matches – she also won both warm-up events at Traralgon and Nottinghill.
“I'm so happy and I really wonder about it. I just played well. I don't know what to say because I thought that I couldn't win that tournament, that it was too difficult for me. I felt tired in the match,” said Pavlyuchenkova, who also won the Australian Open doubles title with Canada's Sharon Fichman. “But I did it, and I am so happy. I thought that it's my last match today, so I have to do what I can. So I did whatever I can, and I tried to play well every point. I tried to keep fighting on.”
Pavlyuchenkova comes from Samara in Russia but trains in Ostrava in the Czech Republic with her father Sergey. She has plenty of fans and friends in Melbourne and planned to celebrate her victory with them by watching Roger Federer take on Marcos Baghdatis in the men’s final before spending Monday taking a well-earned rest on one of the nearby beaches on Melbourne’s Port Philip Bay.
“This is the best stuff. It's the best result. I am pretty happy (but) I even don't feel that I won a Grand Slam because I don't understand what I did,” she said. “It's amazing.”
Both players were presented with their trophies on court and, in what’s become a tradition for all finalists at the Australian Open, received a cuddly kangaroo as a memento of their success in Melbourne.
“He will be my best friend,” said Sidorenko, with a grin. “Maybe he will be my talisman now.”
^ Back to Top
|
