 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 04 Jun 2006 |
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| 04 Jun 2006 - Roland Garros, Paris - Eleanor Preston | |
| Cornet serves up sweet treat in Paris |
French favourite Alize Cornet was barely on court long enough to enjoy her first round win in the Roland Garros juniors on Sunday. Cornet was amongst the first players to seal a second round place on day one of the second junior grand slam of the season with an emphatic win. Cornet was much too strong for Brazil’s Ana-Clara Duarte, beating her 6-0, 6-2 in front of a crowd of delighted Parisians on Court 17.
“This is not my home city but I definitely feel at home here,” said 16-year-old Cornet, who hails from the southern resort of Nice. “All the people in the stands were great and it was a pleasure to play in front of them. I could hear them the moment I came on court and I wanted to win and have a good tournament for them so I could give them pleasure too.”
Cornet will now face the Netherlands’ Anouk Tugi, who beat Sanaa Bhambri 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
“I played a good match against Duarte and I am confident,” said Cornet. “The first round of a junior grand slam is so important. It’s important to get off to the right start. You need to start well and then go on.”
Cornet played the main draw of the women’s event at Roland Garros for the second year running and mixes junior tournaments with WTA Tour events in an effort to get experience at both levels. She admits that swapping between the two can be hard but insists that playing the junior grand slams is a vital part of her development. “I need to keep swapping like this,” she said. “I can’t always play WTA events because I know how important the junior grand slams are. They are the biggest thing you can do. Playing at a good level in the pros is a great experience and when you watch and play against great players it helps when you come back to the juniors.”
After her match, Cornet watched the end of her good friend Gael Monfils’ third round men’s win over James Blake. Monfils was ITF Junior World Champion in 2004 and Cornet says he sets a fantastic example for those still in the junior ranks. “I am so proud of him because he is a good, good friend and he played great,” she said. “He is an inspiration. He was World Champion in juniors and then made Top 30 in the men and could go even higher now. When I see what Gael can do it’s very encouraging for me because it makes me believe that if I can play well in the juniors, I can play well on the WTA Tour too.
Cornet will face tough competition for the junior Roland Garros title from top seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the reigning Australian Open junior champion. Pavlyuchenkova beat accomplished Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3.
The biggest upset of day one was caused by another Russian, Alexandra Panova, who stunned last year’s Roland Garros junior finalist Ioana Olaru of Romania 6-3, 6-4. Panova will play Dutch qualifier Marlot Meddens in the second round.
Reigning junior Wimbledon champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who is seeded two in Paris, eased through with minimum fuss, beating Mexican Valeria Pudilo Velasco 6-0, 6-4, whilst third seed Yung Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei completed a 6-1, 6-1 win over Dilyara Saidkhodjayeva
In the boys’ competition, the top two seeds progressed to the second round. Top seed Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands beat Russia’s Valery Rudnev 6-4, 6-3; while American Donald Young (seeded two) overcame a first set stumble to beat Swiss qualifier Dylan Loic Sessagesimi 1-6, 6-0, 6-0.
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