 Photographer: Aquiles Duarte
Date: 03 Jan 2006 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 07 Dec 2005 |  Photographer: Didier Mossiat
Date: 18 Mar 2005 |  Photographer: Didier Mossiat
Date: 18 Mar 2005 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 28 Sep 2004 |  Photographer: Eleanor Preston
Date: 10 Dec 2005 |
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| 10 Mar 2006 - Will Fletcher | |
| Banana Bowl Preview |
The Clube de Campo Sta Rita in Sao Paulo is the venue for the 36th Banana Bowl beginning on Monday where both the boys’ and girls’ draws have a very cosmopolitan air, reflecting the fact that this is the most prestigious international junior tennis event held annually in South America.
There is a strong crop of youngsters who will be keen to follow in the footsteps of past Banana Bowl Champions such as John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Andy Roddick. There will be some interesting contests even without the likes of Donald Young and Marin Cilic who are absent as they endeavour to make their way in the professional arena; the former faces Tim Henman at Indian Wells today while the latter has already taken the scalp of top 25 player Igor Andreev this year.
The boys’ competition only boasts one top 10 player in the shape of Romania’s Petru-Alexandru Luncanu who has enjoyed some good results in recent months winning the Grade 1 Yucatan World Cup and making the last four at the Grade A Casablanca Cup both in Mexico last December while also making the final of the Grade 1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica just after the new year. In spite of this, all these events are played on hard courts so although Luncanu will be very tough to beat it remains to be seen if he can go all the way on Sao Paulo’s clay.
Home favourite Nicolas Santos will be hoping to claim victory here and emulate a national hero and former Banana Bowl and Grand Slam champion Gustavo Kuerten who won the event in 1992 aged 15. The 18 year old will not be shy of the clay courts at the Clube de Campo Sta Rita having been born and raised in Brazil’s economic centre. However, compatriot Joao Souza who will be unranked due to a lack of activity on the junior circuit will also be drawing the Brazilian fans. He is a true clay court player who has played and beaten Santos once (in February 2005) and, going on his current form in this week’s Grade 1 Asuncion Bowl in Paraguay, he is a definite contender.
Number 16 in the world Pavel Chekhov from Russia will be looking for his first Grade A victory and he has a realistic chance if he can produce the form that saw him reach the semifinals of the Australian Open, a run that was only ended by eventual champion Alexandre Sidorenko from France.
Similarly to the boys’ event it is left to Romania to provide the only top 10 ranked player in the girls’ draw. Alexandra Dulgheru, ranked seven in the world, will be the top seed but will be keen to better her 2005 result where she was a losing finalist to Canada’s Sharon Fichman in three sets. The confident Canadian is also back to defend her trophy. She has not played on the Junior circuit since reaching the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open but will be hard to bet against.
Brazil will provide plenty of pretenders to the crown who will be tough to beat playing on home soil. Roxane Vaisemberg, Fernanda Hermenegildo and Teliana Pereira have all made the last four of this week’s Asuncion Bowl and are therefore in fine form going into the Banana Bowl. I expect Pereira, Vaisemberg and Bolivia’s Maria Fernanda Alvarez-Teran, a Banana Bowl quarterfinalist last year, to feature in the latter stages of the tournament.
To keep up with all the action from the 2006 Banana Bowl, check out the daily reports and photos available on www.itftennis.com/juniors
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