 Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 20 Mar 2006 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 14 Mar 2006 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 16 Mar 2006 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 16 Mar 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 25 Jun 2005 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 02 Oct 2005 |  Photographer: None / Not Applicable
Date: 21 Mar 2006 |
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| 20 Mar 2006 - ITF - James Harrisson | |
| Cornet and Ramos Triumph at Banana Bowl |
French number one Alizé Cornet and Albert Ramos from Spain both overcame tough opposition to clinch titles at the Grade A Banana Bowl in Brazil on Sunday.
Alizé Cornet, who has made only a handful of appearances on the ITF Junior Circuit, boasts a WTA ranking of 316, and last year lead France to the final of the Junior Fed Cup. Prior to travelling to Brazil last week her biggest achievement in junior competition was claiming the title at the grade 2 Istres International Tournament in April 2005.
Seeded 13th, the sixteen year old from Nice cruised through the middle section of the draw, reaching the semifinals without dropping a set and disposing of home favourite Teliana Pereira 62 60 along the way. Cornet’s semifinal match came against second seed Sharon Fichman of Canada who was defending her title after lifting the Banana Bowl last year. In a match that saw both players suffer lapses of concentration, it was Cornet who found form at the right moment, winning in three sets, 64 16 61.
In the final Cornet faced in-form Bolivian Maria Fernanda Alvarez-Teran, who had easily disposed of top seed Alexandra Dulgheru (ROM) 61 64 in her semifinal. Alvarez-Teran was playing in her third final this year, having won the title at the grade 2 Copa Milo in Chile last month. It was the first meeting between the two players, and after the first twelve games neither player could gain an advantage and the inevitable tiebreak ensued. In a real test of nerve it was the Frenchwoman who came out on top, going up a vital minibreak and serving out to take the opening set. After that it seemed like Alvarez-Teran had run out of ideas, as she failed to win another game, handing victory to Cornet, 76(4) 60. “I am so happy to have won my first grade A event”, said an elated Cornet after her final match. “I have wanted to win this title for a long time, and now hope that it will help me to get a good draw at Roland Garros”. Putting on a good performance on home soil is evidently one of Cornet’s top priorities.
By the end of day three in the boys’ competition all but five of the seeded players had been knocked out. Top seeds Petre-Alexandru Luncanu (ROM) and Pavel Chekhov (RUS) remained, but looked to be making hard work of supposedly inferior opposition and neither player advanced past the quarterfinals. So, by the time Spaniard Albert Ramos disposed of sixth seed Michal Konecny (CZE) 62 63 in the round of 16, the draw had been thrown wide open and he could see a seed-free path to the title.
Of course it was not plain sailing. After getting off to a perfect start, Ramos was taken to three sets in his quarterfinal against Italian Thomas Fabbiano, a match he eventually won 60 36 63. In his semifinal match against Brazilian Joao Souza, Ramos lost the first set 36, before winning a close second set in a tiebreak and using this momentum to clinch the match 36 76(3) 62.
Ramos’s opponent in the final was another Brazilian, who put his home advantage to great use throughout the week. Fernando Romboli was originally knocked out of the qualifying competition for the event, but was given a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser. He reached the final with victories over 14th seed Jean-Michel Durango (ECU), 61 63 and 12th seed Roman Jebavy (CZE) 16 62 64. Unfortunately for the Brazilian supporters, it looked from the outset like nine matches in a week was asking too much. Ramos took an early lead in the opening set and never looked back. He dropped only two games in a one-sided match, winning 62 60 to take the title. “I put in a lot of practice before this event”, observed Ramos at a post-final press conference. “I was pretty nervous but I played a good game with very few errors”.
The boy’s doubles event was won by the American pairing of Jamie Hunt and Nathaniel Schnugg, who beat Chileans Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Edgar Rodriguez 76(1) 63 in the final.
The girls’ doubles champions were Klaudia Boczova and Kristina Kucova from the Slovak Republic. They beat Teliana Pereira (BRA) and Katerina Vankova 63 63 to claim the title.
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